Ada said despite limited of funds, their group pursues important programs to assist families of individuals with disabilities.
The CNMI Council on Developmental Disabilities and the CNMI Association of Families with Disabilities conducted three-day training for parents of children with special needs at the Pacific Islands Club last week.
“We want the parents to be more vocal and knowledgeable about their rights,” Ada told Variety.
About 20 parents join the training on “Making the Individualized Education Program Work for Parents and Children” on the first day of the training.
Sixty parents joined the session on “How to Exercise Parents Rights,” Families Developing Interaction” while 35 participated in the session on “Transitioning to Employment or Higher Education.”
Susan Yuan, a former associate director of the Center on Disability and Community at the University of Vermont, was the presenter during the three-day training which had the theme “One Family Serving Families.”
Yuan is the co-director for Vermont’s Family Support 360 project and this is her second time to visit Saipan.
She has also conducted training on Guam and Hawaii, Ada said.
According to Ada, since they launched the CNMI Association of Families with Disabilities in 2004, they have been receiving “good and excellent” feedback from the community.
“It is important for the parents of children with disabilities to know their rights,” she said, adding that some nonresident parents who have U.S. citizen children with disabilities participated in the training.
Yuan said parents of children with disabilities have the right to be informed by the school about their rights in the special education process, and be notified in writing before an evaluation, re-evaluation or change in their child’s classification or placement.
She said parents also have the right to be kept informed of their child’s progress at least as often as parents of non-disabled children. They can examine their child’s educational records, have them explained, and request that information that is inaccurate or inappropriate be corrected.
One of the programs of the CNMI Association of Families with Disabilities is the Family Hope Center which helps parents by identifying possible resources of supports and services, and by referring other service providers available in the commonwealth.
The island has a Family Support Navigators program administered by Frances Torres and Rhea Chong while the Call-A-Ride program is managed by Wildrow Cabrera and Lionel Borja.
