Empowerment 101 - Special Needs Families Learn the Ropes

Ivor Weiner grew up angry with the apartheid system that kept his African playmates powerless in his native South Africa. At the end of a trip to Texas in his 16th year, Weiner refused to return with his mother to Cape Town, in an act of personal rebellion that became his first step on the road to CSUN’s Family Focus Resource & Empowerment Center.

“The theme in my life is justice and empowerment,” said Weiner, center director. At Family Focus, families learn to navigate a virtual sea of public and private service providers, to decipher disability laws, to conquer paperwork, to steer their own ships.

“We are here to empower families” with children up to three who have or who are at risk for developmental delays, or from three to 22 years who have Individualized Education Programs for special education needs, said the director.

Weiner and his staff of eight, who serve a target client population of about 50,000 in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys, know the value of such coaching. Most, including Weiner, are the parents of children with disabilities. “We’ve walked this walk,” he said.

A symbol of what families take from Family Focus—a member of CSUN’s Teaching, Learning, and Counseling Consortium—is a thick, three-ringed binder called The Record Notebook. “Because special education or health impairment generates a lot of paperwork, we’ve found that the more organized you are, the more respect you get,” said Weiner. “This notebook is like a launching pad.”

Team members like Theresa Quary travel to Family Focus sites in the valleys to offer in-depth support, and the center also offers referrals, one-to-one support, and information about disability-related laws and services. More information is available at www.csunfamilyfocus.com or (818) 677-6854.