Services
Families First is a Special Services Agency, including Case Management, Personal Care, Respite, After School Care and summer activities.
We provide services based on families’ unique needs and build on identified goals created by each consumer’s team. As the children we serve approach adulthood, we help families plan for a smooth transition from graduation to work by networking with local businesses.
Founded in 1996, Families First is a (501) non-profit organization commited to helping special needs children and their families in Windham County in Southeastern Vermont. We serve children who are medically fragile, developmentally delayed and those who have mental health issues.Thirteen years ago, Families First began with just four families who wanted to create an agency that would be creative, nurturing and responsive to the day to day needs of families with special needs children. Today we serve over sixty families, with several referrals coming in each month. Our mission has three major objectives: to support famillies; to help people with disabilities learn skills of independence and to promote community awareness and inclusion for people with disabilities.
The individuals we serve present with a wide variety of needs and abilities. Some use wheelchairs and require a high degree of hands on medical attention. Others have visual and sensory impairments that limit their ability to operate independentlly in the world.
Everyone we serve has a level of cognitive limitation that makes them eligible for Medicaid services.
Waiver services are full-service packages for individuals with disabilities that include respite and case management along with personal care services. A case manager coordinates all aspects of the iindividual’s services. He/She attends school meetings, arranges treatment teams, meets with families and their providers and gives wrap around support. Respite is a critically important function of the waiver. We serve individuals who need interventions through the night and many of our consumers require eyes-on supervision at all times. The constant needs of the child exhaust parents. Respite offers much deserved breaks, and allows parents to replenish themselves. Respite also helps parents to stay in the workforce, as sometimes the ‘break’ is the parents going to work.
Personal Care is a Medicaid program that allows Families First to hire 1:1 providers who can go into the home, school and community to help special needs children with adaptive or daily living. Included in our caseload are children and young adults who live with Asperger’s, Cerebral Palsy, Down’s Syndrome, Epilepsy, Hunter’s Syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder. Some of these children are working on skills that able-bodied people take for granted, such as brusshing teeth and using utensils for a meal. Some children are working on community skills like taking turns and waiting in line. Whatever the skills to be attained, Families First finds a provider who builds a special relationship with both the child and their parents. We have found that a genuinely caring and nurturing relationship helps children progress significantly. Parents often tell us that the provider has been “like family”.
Forms:
Developmental disability services Forms:
Developmental Services Handbook
Children’s Personal Care Services (CPCS)
Forms.
(All documents require Microsoft Word/Excel or a compatible program)