Yakima, WA – Children’s Village and the Community of Yakima are nationally recognized by Champions For Inclusive Communities (ChampionInC) through their community recognition program, Star Communities, for being an exemplar model of community based service systems.

Children’s Village (and the Yakima Community) were judged and excelled on all of the following key components:
∙ Supports to ensure that families partner in decision making
∙ Presence of medical homes that work in coordination with other services
∙ Early and continuous screening
∙ Adequate financing to ensure families receive needed services
∙ Services and supports are easily accessed, coordinated, and culturally competent
∙ Transition to adult life – including transition to adult health care providers as well as educational and independent living

A community-based system of services is an infrastructure that operates across service sectors. It facilitates the integration of services where a variety of programs work together to meet the many, varied needs of children, youth, and families in the community. Children’s Village is proud to be a community-based system of services.

“Children’s Village is grateful for the support from the community of Yakima and agency partners,” says Diane Patterson, Director of Children’s Village. “We are honored that our community has been recognized as a model. We are continually striving to improve and we know that we can do even better – and we will.”

Champions For Inclusive Communities (ChampionInC) is a national center designed to support communities in organizing services for families of children and youth with special health care needs. See www.championsinc.org for more information about the organization and their full article on Children’s Village and Yakima.

About Children’s Village
Children’s Village is a unique partnership that resulted from a community vision for easily accessible, comprehensive, collaborative health, education and social services for children with special health care needs. Since Children’s Village opened its doors in October 1997, it has transformed from being just a building into a philosophy of care for our Valley’s children. Over the past decade, 16,000 children and their families have received services, support and care through Children’s Village in Yakima and Sunnyside. For more information, visit Children’s Village online at www.yakimachildrensvillage.org.

MEDIA NOTE:____________________________________________________________
To schedule an interview with representatives of Children’s Village, please contact Candice Dhane at (509) 961-0611. Photos and b-roll will also need to be scheduled by calling Candice Dhane at the number above.

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Childrens Village at times has been my life line and my source of strength while going through challenging times with my son Kaleb. The staff, therapists, and child care director(Margarita) are absolutely WONDERFUL. Children’s Village is a place where you can go and feel comfortable even when your child is having their worst moment ever

I have had MANY great experiences that have helped shape me and my son and that have made a tremendous impact on both of us. Without the Village…I have no idea where we would be. Kaleb has progressed so far in the two years time that he has visited and recieved service through Childrens Village. Its been a foundation for us to begin the process of healing and hope.

One of the greatest Experiences I have had at the Village is the opportunity and blessing to have Kaleb attend the Collaborative Classroom. Celah Wales, Kim Crieder, Season Almason, and Amanda Potter…along with several Central students, have made a huge impact on children with developmental delays and autism. They will never know the impact they have had on our children. I could go on and on, but to sum it up, Childrens Village is a place I would recommend to anyone. Its been my saving grace through tough times…Thank you for making this possible and for caring so much for our children….Heidi Wallberg

Here is the full article from Champions For Inclusive Communities

Community members across Yakima County, Washington are passionate, to say the least, about providing services to children with special needs in their community. This is best demonstrated by their integrated, family-centered services.

Located in central Washington, Yakima County’s children are more likely than the average child to live in poverty, have a mother without a high school diploma, and speak a language other than English. The area is large geographically, and much of it is agricultural, serving migrant families. The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation are also located in the area. These particular demographics have only increased the need for coordinated, culturally competent services for children with special health care needs. Yakima’s Children’s Village is the “door” families use to access these services.

The Children’s Village is a family-centered organization that strives to meet the needs of every individual family. Not only does the Village provide family support, it also provides clinical and educational services for both parents and children and serves as a resource to the entire community. It does all this with the assistance of a variety of partners throughout the community. Best of all, the Children’s Village has sustained their efforts for a very successful 11 years and, even now, is growing, changing, and expanding.

Family-Led and Family-Driven

It all started with families. The Children’s Village began over a decade ago when families of children with special health care needs decided they wanted a better system of care. This trend of family input is still in effect today. Beyond the Children’s Village is the family-driven Yakima County Interagency Coordinating Council. The council is led by family leaders, with family representatives planning the agendas. In addition to families, there is broad representation from service providers across the county. As Jackie McPhee, a program director from the Children’s Village says, the council is “family-led and family-driven.”

Gloria, a member of the Parent to Parent Advisory Board and the Yakima County Interagency Coordinating Council, and a parent of a child with special health care needs herself, says, “The Children’s Village is a shoulder to lean on.” Children’s Village and the surrounding community provides a learning environment that allows parents to educate themselves about issues involving their child and become aware of other supporting agencies in our community. Not only that, they are also key in providing emotional support to families who may feel isolated and overwhelmed. Gloria says, “When I look to those parents whose child has now become an adult, I can look toward the future and what I can expect [for my own child].”

Communicating with Medical Homes

Assuring every child seen at Children’s Village has a medical home was a focus of the Yakima community in planning Children’s Village and was endorsed by the Medical Advisory Committee. Community providers communicate regularly with the child’s medical home regarding the outcome of referrals as well as treatment plans. There is a successful focus on co-management between specialists and the child’s primary care provider.

Recently, the Village conducted a survey of primary care physicians to gather opinions and suggestions regarding communication with the medical home. The physicians’ response was tremendous, and their suggestions were taken very seriously. This is just one of the many ways the community works to ensure that primary care providers are working with all the other facets of care through every step of a family’s journey.

Family Leaders Promote Cultural Competence

A Children’s Village’s priority is to increase cultural and linguistic competency and outreach to non-English speaking families. A key program in this effort is the Yakima County Parent to Parent program.

Maria, one of the Parent to Parent staff members, serves as the Hispanic outreach coordinator. In this role, she provides emotional support to a large number of Hispanic families, coordinates support groups, and acts as a cultural broker between families and providers. For example, Maria provided support to a Spanish-speaking mother of a young girl with seizures. The mother was concerned with the changes she was seeing in her daughter after a change in medication, but was unsure about her ability to communicate with the primary care doctor and specialist. Maria coached this mother through the process of connecting with the physicians and gave her the confidence she needed in order to trust herself and her expertise about her own daughter, despite the language and cultural barriers.

A Vision for Developmental Screening

Another important partner in the Yakima community is the Enterprise for Progress in the Community (EPIC). EPIC’s Early Childhood Development Division provides early childhood education programs such as Head Start and Early Head Start. Children who qualify for these programs are screened for developmental delays and, if necessary, a smooth referral process is in place for full developmental evaluations at Children’s Village. The relationships between staff and a mutual commitment to coordinate services for families have been enriched by the partnership and program co-location at Children’s Village.

Transition: Providing a Link to the Future

Transition to adult life is something the community is becoming more aware of as time passes. Parents of younger children with special health care needs in the community are looking to those youth who have successfully transitioned to adult life for guidance. Meeting other youth who have graduated from high school and have moved on to find work in the community is a “light at the end of the tunnel” for parents like Gloria. And meeting those youth and their parents is easy to do through family events sponsored by Parent to Parent.

A number of programs throughout the community are working together to provide a resource for youth with disabilities to successfully transition to adult life. At the high school level, employment training opportunities are being implemented through community-supported employment providers such as the Provident Horizon Group. These opportunities occur in partnership with local school districts.

In addition, Project Search provides high school students with disabilities the opportunity to participate in workforce training in a hospital or business setting. A partnership between Memorial Hospital and Provident Horizon Group allows Project Search to provide a one-year educational program for students with disabilities in their last year of high school. This program is very successful at helping the youth identify the strengths and abilities they can bring to the workforce.

Children’s Village has also compiled a transition manual for families that better prepares them for situations they may face as their child transitions to adulthood.

Creating a Vision

Yakima is known for being a strong community committed to its youth. Supported by Children’s Village and its partnerships, children with special health care needs in Yakima have been thriving for over a decade. When asked what guidance they have for other communities that are hoping to have the same success in sustainability, Diane Patterson, director of the Children’s Village says, “The key is creating a vision that inspires your community to commit their time, resources, and energy. Once a community experiences success in supporting children with special needs, the effect is exponentially positive.” It goes without saying that a significant amount of passion and dedication must also back that vision. And that is exactly what this community has: Passion. Dedication. And a vision.

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At Children’s Village, it is always the right time to provide an answer to a question about why an infant was born with Downs Syndrome or why a child is unable to walk or talk. It is always the right time to comfort a parent who has just learned that their child has autism or cerebral palsy. It is always the right time to have a painful tooth looked at for a child that is unable to understand how to sit in a dental chair because of a cognitive delay, it is always the right time to have a physical therapist provide key muscle movements that will increase a child’s ability to walk. It is always the right time to have an special teacher come to the home of an infant with developmental delays in order to increase the ability of that infant to interact and enjoy success with others in the future, and it is always the right time for a community to come together and say to families of children with special needs, you are important to us.

Right now families have to wait for many of the services provided at Children’s Village in part because there is not enough space. Please support the Children’s Village “Call to Greatness” Capital Campaign to increase the capacity to serve children with special needs and their families. “It is always the right time for children who are being born and formed in mind, body and spirit every minute as life goes on”.

]]> http://childrensvillage.memfound.org/campaign/always-the-right-time/feed 0 http://childrensvillage.memfound.org/campaign/connections http://childrensvillage.memfound.org/campaign/connections#comments Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:13:36 +0000 Diane P. http://childrensvillage.memfound.org/campaign/?p=11 Last weekend while attending a basketball game in Spokane an acquaintance from Yakima, who has since moved to Seattle, approached me. She is a grandmother to many wonderful children. One of who has autism. She stated that she had read Erin Lynch’s article on line and had been moved by the way Erin openly expressed how it felt to be a mother of children on the autism spectrum. With tears in her eyes she stated, “ I know how Erin feels. My daughter knows how it feels to be in a grocery store and have people stare at you with disgust at how your child is behaving.” This grandmother knew that she was not alone. The feelings and emotions that are so overwhelming for parents, siblings and grandparents can feel so isolating.

It is natural to feel so “alone” in a society that honors beauty and “appropriate behavior”. Children’s Village is our community’s response to those 1 in five families who feel so alone. Who describe the moment that they were told something was wrong with their child or knew that something was wrong with their child, as being “kicked in the gut”. The journey does not get easier. Throughout life there are reminders of that initial punch.

A few weeks ago a grandfather called me and left a pleading voicemail. With trepidation in his voice he asked for help in getting speech therapy for his grandson who was not speaking. Upon visiting this grandfather and his “voiceless” grandson, I saw such love and adoration between the two of them. His concerns are valid, and yet once I saw the grandson go to his grandfather, look at him and snuggle up in his arms, with pure contentment, I knew they would be ok. I knew that because in addition to this grandfather knowing something wasn’t right and seeking out help early in his grandson’s life, this grandfather loved his grandson unconditionally. His grandson knew it to. And I saw in the connection between the two of them, and it was strong, the synapse firing with every hug and encouraging word.

What we now know about a child’s development, is what families have known all along intuitively, that unconditional love and support coupled with the latest research based interventions, will impact young brains in incredible ways.

At Children’s Village we strive to facilitate connections for families and children. And indeed, daily we do.

Diane Patterson