FSC's Mission Statement, Ten Principles of Family Support, and FSC Advocacy Plan

Ohio's Family Support Collaborative (FSC) was a grant with funding from the Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council and administered by the Ohio Legal Rights Service. The following was the FSC's Mission Statement, Ten Principles of Family Support, and FSC Advocacy Plan.

Mission Statement

In Ohio, the systems of supports and services are not designed to functionally meet the needs of families. The FSC affirms the belief that all children can and will live in a family, preferably their birth family, which is safe, nurturing, and permanent, if that family is adequately supported. The purpose of the FSC is to identify the need for, and guide the development of, an integrated system of support for the family. The integrated system of support proposed by FSC recognizes that families are the pivotal decision-makers for choosing services and supports for children and their families. The FSC's mission statement is as follows:

"Children with disabilities and their families will have supports and services which are individualized, efficient, and cost-effective, and which promote the autonomy of the family and the individuality of the child."

Through this mission statement, the FSC will identify barriers to delivery of those services and supports in the current system, guide policymakers through recommendations in establishing such a system, and generate a written plan of organized advocacy.

Ten Principles of Family Support

These ten principles are built on a foundation of having high quality family support programs available:

1. View families as the primary resource and decision-maker for their child
2. Include individual supports, services and material items that provide "whatever it takes, whenever it is needed"
3. Build on family strengths, based on family preferences, choices, and values; not on administrative expedience
4. Expand and strengthen the formal and informal/natural community resources available to the family if (and only if) the family wishes it
5. Involve families in all phases of design, construction, administration, evaluation, and governance: "nothing about me, without me"
6. Respect families' cultural, racial and linguistic identities
7. Are proactive, fair, equitable, flexible, geographically sensitive, easily accessible, affordable, and continually responsive to changing family needs, roles, and ages
8. Include resources reserved for emergencies as determined by the family
9. Promote self-determination and family/child centered planning
10. Coordinate with general service delivery system to ensure maximum efficacy

FSC Advocacy Plan

The FSC strives to create a family centered, family directed, individualized, and accessible system of support for Ohio's families by way of an advocacy plan to:

• Establish a single point of entry for families to learn about and apply for supports
• Re-invent the system so families determine and control the supports and services
• Develop an information technology plan that will make sure families are receiving and benefiting from supports
• Recommend policy and legislative changes which will guarantee these supports and ensure that families have meaningful choices

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• Family Support Council (formerly Family Support Collaborative)