Intergenerational Support

Today intergenerational support can extend beyond traditional care giving and support roles.  Relatives of children are serving as parents and parents of adult children with disabilities are closely involved in providing support.  This section adresses these more uniquely defined aspects of support-giving.

Relatives as Parents 

Today grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and others who find themselves raising young children, in many cases after they thought their child-rearing days were over. You often face daunting challenges as the children you provide for often have faced serious issues: incarceration, alcohol or drug abuse of their parents, physical and verbal abuse by their parents, the death of one or both parents, or their own physical or developmental disabilities. These children come into your homes needing much more than a warm place to sleep and food on the table. These pages can provide you with links to information, services and programs that you may find helpful.  

Parents Providing Support for Adult Children with Disabilities

The need for information, support and services for parents providing support for adult children with disabilities is great. Many of you have provided life-long support to your adult child with disabilities since their birth. Now you look to the future with more than a little apprehension. Where will your adult child find the support and services he or she needs to remain independently in the community? As his or her needs continue, you may be starting to think about your own need for support and service. The information contained in these pages seeks to provide links to the information and services you may need. 

Related Sites

The Special Kids Network Systems of Care website. This exciting new site will provide information, access and services across a broad spectrum of programs and issues.

Traumatic Brain Injury

A separate page with links to information is provided for those providing support for people who have had a severe head injury, also know as Traumatic Brain Injury or TBI.