Family Support

When a child is diagnosed with a disability, the entire family is changed and must adapt. Parents and siblings often experience strong emotional responses that should be addressed in various constructive ways. UCP of Orange County has responded and adapted to family needs over the years, creating new programs to meet their ever-evolving  challenges.

Our Parent Information Nights and Email Network empower parents with the latest information on a broad array of topics -- everything from IEP strategies to local workshops and recreational events.

Experience is a great teacher and sometimes only another parent who has been where you are going can know how to help you along. As helpful as many professionals are within the disability community, they simply do not have the parent perspective or may only have expertise in their specialized field. Parent Connection addresses the parent's need for emotional support by matching them with another parent who has had similar experiences with a child with special needs. Through telephone contact primarily, parent-to-parent support and offers personalized understanding and expertise.

Special Sitters and Saturday Club connect families with trained, teenaged babysitters in their communities who are eager and motivated to work with children having special needs.

Swap Meet brings together families needing specialized equipment with other families who wish to donate their used, but serviceable equipment.

And then, UCP provides several programs such as Inclusion Connection, Childcare Connection, and Project Access that focus upon creating appropriate and inclusive childcare in support of working parents.

The helping individuals of Family Support Services (FSS) are themselves parents of children with special needs and that first hand experience gives them a heightened understanding of the complex issues that parents encounter. Issues for which UCP-OC cannot directly provide assistance, we maintain extensive files that can assist families in accessing additional resources throughout Orange County. Our staff provides services in English, Spanish and Vietnamese.

For more information or questions about any of our Family Support Services, contact the Director, Kathleen McFarlin via email, or reach by phone at (949) 333-6413