12th Editon of the Family TIES
of Massachusetts Directory of Resources
for Families of Children and Youth with Special Needs

The latest version of the Family TIES of Massachusetts Directory of Resources for Families of Children and Youth with Special Needs is now available! View online or contact the Regional Coordinators at 800-905-TIES to get your copy.

Watch for the first UPDATES section in June, when we will share the many resources identified since the publication of the 12th Edition.

We always welcome information about more community programs, especially from familie. Just fill out our Directory Add form and mail or email to the address on the top of the form. Thank you for sharing with us!

(The Directory is available in PDF format only. You will need Adobe® Acrobat® Reader™in order to view these pages. Acrobat® Reader™is available at no cost and can be downloaded by clicking here.)

Inroduction

Family TIES of Massachusetts is a parent-led organization that strives to meet the information and support needs of families of children with all special needs, as well as professionals who work with families. As parents of children with special needs ourselves, we understand the difference that can be made for a family when they realize they have support in caring for their child with special needs.

Who is Family TIES reaching out to support? Families seeking assistive technology services, childcare programs, community support, assistance in the educational or legal systems, financial supports for their children’s needs, help with the transition from childhood for young adults, and emotional and technical supports related to their child’s special needs.

This Directory of Resources aims to provide everyone with a starting place as they seek supports for the family of a child with special needs. Our goal is to meet as many needs of as many families as we can. Again this year, we have increased the volume of resources included in our Directory by 10% - now close to 800 state agencies, non-profit agencies, and community-based organizations are identified as places where our families can turn for supports of one kind or another…and we know we still haven’t listed them all! We continue to ask parents and professionals to contact us when you find a program that has made a difference for just one family, as we know there are many more seeking similar assistance. Please share that information – and help these agencies and organizations to grow their missions while meeting the needs of families of children with special needs.

We hope you’ll grow accustomed to the format changes from the early editions, made necessary because of the expanding number of programs included in our Directory. If you are searching for a program by the type of support they offer, visit Section 1: Resources by Topic, which offers an enhanced format listing all possible sources of support under each topic header. When you already know the name of the program you are seeking, turn to Section 2: Resources A-Z, where you will find an alphabetic listing of all resource programs. Families of children under 3 years of age may want to visit Section 3: Early Intervention, with information about services; for referrals to programs for assessment and service, please visit the Family TIES website, which has the most up-to-date listing of programs and their contact information. Section 4: State Agencies contains contacts for agencies supporting families. For those families whose primary language is Spanish or Portuguese, Section 5: En Español y Em Português lists programs that provide services in Spanish and Portuguese, respectively. This year we have taken the liberty of using the inside covers to share some of the secrets of our endeavors.

Special words of thanks are offered… Once again, the Federation staff have met the challenge of bringing to life our ideas about this Directory. Thanks again to John Sullivan, Gisel Pimentel, and Sonya Fort for their patience and skills. Publication would not be possible without the support of our funding agency, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and Suzanne Gottlieb in particular. Added words of thanks to the many members of MDPH for their support and assistance, to the guidance from the Federation for Children with Special Needs, and to the many parents and professionals we met this year and helped to grow our book.

About the electronic version of the Directory… This change in format will allow us to update the electronic version of our Directory more easily. As a result, we will make available a Directory Add Form on the website. Forms may be submitted by fax to the Program Director. We anticipate making periodic updates to the on-line version of the book, bringing the most up-to-date version to you sooner. Remember that you can print a single page from the website’s version, which allows our visitors to share resource information easily from the electronic version.