Family Support
family choices
For persons with developmental disabilities, as for others in our society, the family usually serves as the first and greatest source of aid and encouragement. Our Family Support program strengthens and supports those relationships.
What Is Family Support?
Children share a desire to live with their families and grow up with their brothers and sisters. We all rely on our family, friends, and neighbors to help us along the way. Persons with developmental disabilities need and want the same things. Family Support helps families keep a member with a disability at home. The home is typically the best environment to grow up in, no matter what a child's disabilities, so family support is designed to prevent a person from being placed outside the natural home. Support Coordinators help locate and integrate services with community agencies and authorize individually planned supports and services. The services and program are designed toward enabling persons to progress toward normal living and to develop their capacity, performance and relationships with others.
Why Is Family Support Needed?
Having a child is a great responsibility, and for families supporting children with disabilities, life presents unique challenges. Locating a speech therapist, finding resource books, or getting wheel chair accessories can be difficult tasks. We can help. Family Support services can help eliminate some of the stress that families experience in trying to meet the unique needs of a family member with a developmental disability. Providing supports for these persons in their natural homes helps maintain their quality of life. The resources used to support persons to live with their families and in the community cost taxpayers a fraction of the cost of institutional care. In Missouri, the average cost per day in institutions is $283.12, while the average daily cost for community and family living supports in Boone County is $6.29.