Dear Community Partners,

The Washington County Community Partnership for Children & Families (WCCP) proudly supports the CHARACTER COUNTS! initiative. CHARACTER COUNTS! is a non-profit organization designed to strengthen the ethical values of our young people. CHARACTER COUNTS! engages all aspects of the Washington County community by utilizing strategies that teach, advocate, and model the Six Pillars of Character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.

In recognition of this support, the WCCP would like to recognize the National CHARACTER COUNTS! Week, which is scheduled for October 15 through October 21, 2006. During this week, the WCCP is encouraging all community partners to help promote CHARACTER COUNTS! by using the phrase CHARACTER COUNTS! Everywhere All The Time on any signs and written communications. To see a list of activities, please (click here).

If you need any further assistance or information, please contact Carolyn Brooks, Washington County CHARACTER COUNTS! Chairperson, at 301-714-0943.

Sincerely,

David Engle
WCCP Board Chair

Stephanie Stone
WCCP Director

CHARACTER COUNTS! and the Six Pillars of Character are service marks of the CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition, a project of the Josephson Institute of Ethics. www.charactercounts.org

• January 2004 - "Families Finding Voices" initiative is born under the leadership of Carrol Lourie, Chair of the WCCP Community Outreach Committee, a WCCP Board Subcommittee.
  
  
• January 2004 - Jane Walker, Executive Director of the Coalition, is invited to speak with the WCCP Board Executive Committee and planning begins to hold local focus groups with parents of children with mental health needs.
  
  
• April 2004 - The Coalition is invited to conduct two focus groups in Washington County with parents of children with mental health needs. To view a summary of the focus groups, please (click here).
  
  
• May 2004 - The WCCP maintains contact with families that attended the focus groups and makes them aware of any training opportunities.
  
  
• May 2004 - The WCCP initiates planning of an advocacy workshop for families. The families that attended the focus groups are invited to participate in the planning.
  
  
• June 2004 - Several WCCP staff and board members attend the Coalition conference entitled "Creating Common Ground: A Conference for Families and Providers".
  
  
• July 2004 - The WCCP, utilizing Yahoo! Groups, attempts to establish an e-group to provide a network of information and support for families across Washington County, MD who are caring for a child with mental health needs.
  
  
• August 2004 - The WCCP adopts the Coalition's practice of providing stipends to parents of children with mental health needs for consulting on systems reform boards, collaborations, planning teams, etc.
  
  
• August 2004 - The WCCP Community Outreach Committee, a WCCP Board Subcommittee, begins planning a parent-professional workshop for October 2004. Due to few RSVP's, the workshop was postponed until March of 2005. The planning team for the workshop included parents and professionals.
  
  
• November 2004 - The WCCP enters into a contract with the Coalition for the provision of a part-time Community Outreach Staff charged with providing guidance, one-on-one mentoring and support to families of children with mental health needs in individual and systems-level advocacy.
  
  
• November 2004 - The WCCP begins planning Washington County's response to House Bill 1386. Vivian Miller, Coalition Community Outreach Staff, begins recruiting parents of children with mental health needs to serve on the planning team.
  
  
• January 2005 - The WCCP Community Outreach Committee, a WCCP Board Subcommittee, conducts a focus group with community mental health partners with the goals of providing them a brief history of the "Families Finding Voices" initiative, to inform them of the upcoming parent-professional workshop entitled "Advocating and Navigating in the Mental Health System", to solicit ideas from them as to how to best reach their customers regarding our upcoming workshop and to introduce them to Vivian Miller, Coalition Community Outreach Staff, and tell them more about the Coalition.
  
  
• March 2005 - The WCCP sponsors a parent-professional workshop entitled "Advocating and Navigating in the Mental Health System". Vivian Miller, Coalition Community Outreach Staff, Cathy Wesmiller, parent of a child with mental health needs, and Brooke Kerbs, Washington County Mental Health Authority Director of Child & Adolescent Services, present.
  
  
• March 2005 - Vivian Miller, Coalition Community Outreach Staff, forms a support and educational group for parents of children with mental health needs.
  
  
• May 2005 - Vivian Miller, Coalition Community Outreach Staff, testifies before Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele at Hagerstown Community College Kepler Theater regarding the need for more mental health services in the schools.
  
  
• June 2005 - The WCCP submits Washington County's response to House Bill 1386, which includes the proposal for the staffing of a family member who has experience caring for a child with special needs to provide systems navigation support to parents of children with intensive needs.
  
  
• June 2005 - The WCCP secures funding from the Governor's Office for Children to send three Washington County parents of children with special needs to the Family Leadership Institute (FLI). The FLI, which teaches parents advocacy skills, is presented through a partnership between the Coalition and Villa Maria.
  
  
• June 2005 - Wendy Hughes, a parent of a child with special needs, speaks during the Community Roundtable Discussion portion of the meeting at the WCCP Board meeting. She expresses the need for families to receive more instruction on how to advocate on behalf of their children in the service systems. Several other parents who attended the meeting echo her need. Paul Pittman, WCCP Board Member, makes a motion that the WCCP convene a task force to explore this need.
  
  
• September 2005 - The WCCP holds its first Family Advocacy Task Force meeting. Several public agencies, private nonprofit service providers and parents of children with special needs attend.
  
  
• October 2005 - The Family Advocacy Task Force welcomes Jim Masters, President of the Center for Community Futures, to facilitate a discussion on community-wide planning around issues and solutions to assist parents in becoming greater advocates for their children.
  
  
• October 2005 - The WCCP hosts the "Creating Common Ground: Parents and Professionals Working Together to Meet the Mental Health Needs of Children and Youth in Washington County" conference. Susan Stromberg, Public Health Advisor for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Marshall (Rick) Rock, Director of the Washington County Mental Health Authority, Inc., Jane Walker, Executive Director of the Coalition, Vivian Miller, Coalition Community Outreach Staff, and Debbie Green, Parent Educator for The Parents' Place of Maryland, present.
  
  
• January 2006 - Vivian Miller, Coalition Community Outreach Staff, is successful in recruiting three Washington County parents of children with special needs to attend the Family Leadership Institute.
  
  
• February 2006 - Vivian Miller, Coalition Community Outreach Staff, and Belinda Kegarise, a parent of a child with mental health needs, spend the day in Annapolis bringing the voices of Washington County families concerned about children's mental health to Maryland legislators.
  
  
• April 2006 - The WCCP, in partnership with The Parents' Place of Maryland, Partners for Success Family Support Center, the Coalition, the Washington County Mental Health Authority, Inc. and Lori Connolly, parent of a child with special needs, begins planning a series of workshops for the coming school year designed to provide information and guidance to parents of children with special needs and the professionals working with them.
  
  
• May 2006 - Debra Shrader, Belinda Kegarise and Todd Hall, parents of children with mental health needs, graduate from the Family Leadership Institute.

For the past three years, at the Coalition's annual board meeting, the Board has presented an award to a leader in building family partnerships. Diane Cabot, Tom Merrick and Mark Greenburg have been the past recipients of the award.

September Parent-Professional Workshop a Success

The WCCP sponsored a workshop on September 9 at the Hancock Town Hall for parents of children with special needs and the professionals working with them. The WCCP planned this workshop in cooperation with The Parents' Place of Maryland, Partners for Success Family Support Center, the Coalition, the Washington County Mental Health Authority, Inc. and Lori Connolly, parent of a child with special needs.

Debbie Green, Parent Educator for The Parents' Place of Maryland, presented a two-part workshop. In the first part, entitled "Finding Community Resources", participants learned about resources and services in their community that support families of children with disabilities and special health care needs. The second part, entitled "Parents' Basic Rights in the Special Education Process", provided a review of the process, regulated by federal law, for identifying a child in need of special education or 504 services and discussed strategies for negotiating within the system.

Prior to the workshop and following, attendees had the opportunity to talk with supportive services vendors to learn more about their services.

To view an evaluation summary of the workshop, please (click here).

The next workshop is scheduled for Saturday, October 14 from 8:30 a.m. to noon at the Smithsburg Library. Debbie Green, Parent Educator for The Parents' Place of Maryland, will be presenting a workshop entitled "Effective Advocacy". For more information, please (click here).