We hope you, your family and your loved ones are safe and healthy at home. Raising Special Kids staff are parents and family members of children who have disabilities that have been working from home and other safe locations since late last week, and we will continue to do so as our health care system works to ‘flatten the curve’ and diminish the spread of COVID-19. Though our physical offices are now closed to the public, our dedicated staff are on hand to provide the full range of Raising Special Kids family support services.
As parents and family members of children who have disabilities, much of our experience has conditioned us to be uniquely qualified to cope and process situations of extreme stress and anxiety. We believe that the thousands of Arizona families raising a child who has a disability or special health care need share this unique strength. We believe in the strength of solidarity and unity in community solutions, indeed we have seen it work in our own lives:
- Friends and family members going to great lengths to support each other when a child spends 100+ days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
- School and classroom communities practicing true inclusion of students with disabilities
- Neighborhoods and municipalities taking action to ensure accessibility, and feelings of belonging, for all neighbors and residents
As we work through this challenging time together, with you, please know that our priority is the same as it has been for the past 40 years: strengthening families and systems of care to improve the lives of children who have disabilities.
Over the past year our organization has adopted a phrase that I borrowed from a dear colleague, Mr. John Copenhaver of the Utah State University. The context of the phrase came as a reminder that, when in the face of uncertainty or doubt, always go back to “keeping the one thing, the one thing.” At Raising Special Kids, our ‘one thing’ is you, your family and all Arizona families raising children who have disabilities and special health care needs.
We are honored to be at your service.
Christopher Tiffany
Executive Director
Raising Special Kids