Families taking care of children with disabilities face many unique challenges. Something we hear often from the families we serve is they are unsure of what resources are available for their children and how to access them. Although Google is a powerful tool, it can also be overwhelming to decipher the results and determine what applies to your family’s needs. To lend a helping hand, we have compiled a list of 10 resources for parents and caretakers taking care of children with disabilities in Georgia.
Parent to Parent of Georgia (P2PGA)
P2PGA is a non-profit organization offering support, information, education, and leadership development to Georgians with disabilities or special health care needs from birth to 26 years of age and their families.
SGF was blessed to host P2PGA at Spring in the Valley 2023 as one of our nonprofit vendors. One of the best parts of having them at SIV is the P2PGA representative is one of our SGF moms!
Their Special Needs Database also houses almost 7,000 resources in over 200 categories, and SGF is proud to be a part of this database. We are so grateful to P2PGA for what the difference they are making for special needs families of Georgia.
Learn more here!
Marcus Autism Center
As one of the largest autism centers in the U.S., the Marcus Autism Center in Atlanta provides comprehensive services for children with autism. They offer diagnostic evaluations, behavioral therapy programs, learning programs, and support services for families.
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) took notice of the difference this center was making, so in 2008 Marcus Autism Center became a part of CHOA. Collaborations such as this have had a tremendous impact on the lives of children with autism.
Several of our Gifted Families have praised Marcus Autism Center and how they jumped into action to help guide them through their child’s diagnosis and setting them up with early education programs.
Learn more here!
Tools for Life
Tools for Life is Georgia’s Assistive Technology Act Program, offering resources and support to individuals with disabilities. They provide assistive technology assessments, training, and demonstrations to help families identify and access the tools that can enhance their child’s independence and quality of life.
Learn more here!
Georgia Department of Education’s Special Education Services
The Georgia Department of Education offers a wide range of special education services, including Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), assistive technology support, parent training, eligibility categories with contact information, applications, special need scholarship information, and much more.
Learn more here!
Friends of Disabled Adults & Children (FODAC)
FODAC is an organization that provides refurbished, durable medical equipment, such as wheelchairs, walkers, and hospital beds, and services to individuals with disabilities. They offer equipment loans, donations, and assistance in obtaining necessary equipment for families who may not have access to insurance coverage or financial resources.
Learn more here!
Families of Children Under Stress (FOCUS)
FOCUS offers wraparound programs of support to families of children, teens, and young adults who are medically fragile or have developmental/physical disabilities. Programs include hospital support, workshops, adapted day and overnight camps, adapted swim teams, parent share groups, family camps and activities, grants for critical medical equipment, and more.
Learn more here!
Amongst the different programs they offer, one is the equipment grant program. This program provides grant assistance for van-lifts, ceiling lift and stair lifts, material for ramps for home access, custom bath equipment not covered by Medicaid/insurance, patient care lifts, and more. For more details on this specific program, click here.
Georgia Parent Mentor Partnership
The Georgia Parent Mentor Partnership is parents and professionals working together to improve outcomes for students with disabilities by enhancing communication and collaboration between families, educators, and the community.
Parent mentors work with families of students with disabilities on a daily basis providing them with tools, resources, and strategies that they can use to support their children at home, at school, and in the community. Mentors provide information on a variety of topics through telephone calls, letters, emails, and face-to-face meetings.
They assist parents in identifying funding sources for specialized equipment, locating medical and therapeutic services within the community, obtaining resources that parents can use to help their children in reading and math, and much more.
Learn more here!
Assistance Dogs International (ADI)
ADI is a worldwide coalition for nonprofit programs that raise, train, and place Assistance Dogs. Within their site, they offer a member search where you can filter by state. This search will then generate an extensive list of facilities and programs in Georgia for guide dogs, hearing dogs, and service dogs.
When most families first consider the addition of an assistive dog to their family, they are overwhelmed by the cost. Within the list of ADI’s members, several of these organizations offer low-income, grant, and other financial assistance options.
Learn more here!
Georgia Medicaid
The Georgia Medicaid site provides a comprehensive list of services offered through the Georgia Department of Community Health. It administers the Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids programs which provide access to health care for children, pregnant women, and people who are aging, blind, and/or disabled.
This site provides many different types of programs with links and descriptions for each, including TERFA/Katie Beckett, waiver programs, Children’s Behavioral Health Services, Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) services and more.
Learn more here!
Disability Resources in Georgia
This last one is a larger resource list that is broken down into specific categories and services, including Georgia Disability Agencies, blind services, birth defect services, long term care, respite care services, and much more.
Learn more here!
Resources for Parents Continues to Grow
We are so thrilled to see more and more resources available for parents caring for children with disabilities in our communities. Although there’s still so much needed, it’s a blessing to see more organizations and communities getting involved.
SGF is currently working on a resource database for our new website that will serve families from all over. Beneficial resources are built into our mission, so we are proud to develop this crucial function of our program and cannot wait to share it with you! In the meantime, we hope this short list of resources for parents and caregivers at least gives you a place to start.