At Family Voices of Tennessee, we are families supporting families. We understand what families who are raising children with disabilities, special healthcare needs, and chronic illnesses face because we are them. Everyone who works at Family Voices of Tennessee has a personal connection to disability, special healthcare needs, and chronic illness in some shape or form. This shared experience and passion allow us to meet folks where they are and walk alongside them.
We support families by connecting them with community resources, experienced parent mentors, tools to navigate complex systems in healthcare and insurance, and more. With love and care in the front seat, we work with families to help them develop the tools they need to become their own, or their child’s, best advocate.
How we help support our families:
- Our PEARS (Parents. Empowerment. Access. Resources. Support.) Program is dedicated to helping support families who have children that are D/deaf, Hard of Hearing, or have hearing issues. Through this program, we are able to offer these families individualized support, information, and resources. Additionally, we work closely with D/deaf or Hard of Hearing volunteers to introduce interested families to the vibrant D/deaf culture and community.
- Our Parent to Parent Program is dedicated to providing family-centered care, support, information, resources, and leadership training to families. Parent to Parent matches parents or caregivers with a parent or caregiver mentor who is a little further along on their journey. This connection fosters relationship-building and empowerment because no parent should ever feel alone.
- Family Voices of Tennessee also engages in work around health equity for underserved BIPOC (Black, Indigenous People of Color) families and communities. We have an established health collaborative that meets quarterly to discuss issues around health inequities in Tennessee. The goal of this initiative is to identify issues and collaboratively partner with others in the state to help mitigate the gaps where we can.
At Family Voices of Tennessee, we serve families and children across all diagnoses and all ages, and we’d love to connect with you!
Ways you can connect with Family Voices of Tennessee:
We have three private Facebook groups centered around the ECF Choices and Katie Beckett Waiver. If you are interested in joining these groups, please reach out to us at familyvoices@tndisability.org
We offer trainings to parents and professionals on a variety of topics that relate to having a child or young adult with a disability. Please email familyvoices@tndisability.org for more information.
If you are interested in receiving services or volunteering please complete our online referral form at this link: https://form.jotform.com/233065792073054
You can learn more about Family Voices of Tennessee and the work we do at: https://www.familyvoicestn.org/
About the author:
Tonya Bowman is the Statewide Family Resource Specialist/Health Equity Leader for Family Voices of Tennessee. She has served in this role since 2007. Tonya is the mother of three, two young adults and one in high school, which provides her with the lived experience of special healthcare needs and disabilities. Tonya loves working alongside others who are passionate about serving families who have children/youth with special healthcare needs, chronic illnesses and disabilities. Tonya utilizes her professional expertise when sharing the parent perspective across various councils, committees and boards.