State Parent Advocacy Groups

State Parent Advocacy Groups

Series: Related Organizations Lists
Author(s): Child Welfare Information Gateway

Associations, programs, and organizations throughout the United States that work to promote the safety, well-being, and permanency of families by empowering parents to be engaged in family life through education, support, advocacy, and outreach activities.

If you are aware of any other organizations, please contact Child Welfare Information Gateway at OrganizationUpdates@childwelfare.gov. Inclusion on this list is for information purposes and does not constitute an endorsement by Child Welfare Information Gateway or the Children's Bureau.

California

California Parent Engagement Center
Claremont, California 91711
Phone: (909) 621-6184 x220
The California Parent Engagement Center provides a list of programs in California where parents are engaging and partnering with professionals in direct services, trainings, public awareness, public education, policy, and systems change.
nadid: 27135
A Better Way
3200 Adeline Street
Berkeley, California 94703
Phone: (510) 852-1694
A Better Way is a comprehensive foster and adoptive services agency providing various services to children and families at risk or involved with the foster care system, including community training, parent advocacy, and behavioral health services. Its Parent Engagement Program provides a connection between parent advocates, who have navigated the child welfare system successfully, and those parents currently involved with child welfare services.
nadid: 27147
Making a Difference Association
1001 N. La Cadena Drive
Colton, California 92324
Phone: (909) 420-0413
Fax: (909) 514-0401
nadid: 28039

Colorado

Families First
2163 S. Yosemite
Denver, Colorado 80231
Phone: 1.877.695.7996
The mission of Families First is to provide services which strengthen families, empower parents, nurture children, and end the cycle of child abuse and neglect. Their family of services include a Family Support Line, Circle of Parents Support Groups, Parent Education Classes, Rocky Mountain Parents as Teachers Program, and Residential Treatment.
nadid: 27160

Connecticut

Connecticut Parent Advocacy Center
338 Main Street
Niantic, Connecticut 06357
Toll-Free: 800-445-2722
The Connecticut Parent Advocacy Center (CPAC) is a statewide nonprofit that works with parents of children with any disability or chronic illness. CPAC, staffed by parents with professional and personal experience in the law and disability issues, provides education, training, and outreach to help other parents become more informed and prepared advocates for their children. The website provides a list of parent support groups throughout the State.
nadid: 27136
PATH Parent to Parent/Family Voices of Connecticut
Northford, Connecticut 06472
Phone: 1-203-234-9554
PATH Parent to Parent/Family Voices of Connecticut offers many services to families of children with special health-care needs. One of these programs is a one-to-one matching service in which a parent with understanding and experience caring for a child with special health-care needs provides emotional support and assistance to another parent in a similar situation.
nadid: 27152

Delaware

Delaware Ecumenical Council on Children and Families
Delaware 19804
Phone: (302) 225-3011
nadid: 28040

Florida

The Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida
111 N. Gadsden Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32301
Phone: (850) 921-4494
The Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida is a nonprofit organization dedicated to shaping prevention policy and investing in innovative, community-based prevention programs that provide measurable benefits to Florida's children and families.
nadid: 29686

Georgia

Families First
1105 West Peachtree Street NE
Atlanta, Georgia 30309-3608
Phone: (404) 853-2867
Phone: 404-853-2800
nadid: 1070

Illinois

Children's Home & Aid
100 N. Western Avenue
Suite 200
Chicago, Illinois 60612
Phone: (312) 455-5276
Children's Home & Aid is a child and family services agency in Illinois that connects children and families to a network of opportunity and care, to extended family, teachers, mentors, and the resources in their neighborhood and community. Children's Home & Aid provides programs and services in the following areas: adoption, foster care, counseling and treatment programs, parenting support services, and child care and education.
nadid: 29681
The Family Defense Center
70 E. Lake St
Suite 1100
Chicago, Illinois 60601
Phone: 312-251-9800
The Family Defense Center is a nonprofit organization that offers legal advocacy for families at risk of losing their children to the foster care system. The Family Defense Center provides direct representation, systemic advocacy, and grassroots activities for families that are experiencing difficulties with State child protection agencies.
nadid: 27154
Be Strong Families
1555 Sherman Avenue
#103
Evanston, Illinois 60201
Toll-Free: (800) 805-2505, x5
Be Strong Families partners to develop transformative conversations that nurture the spirit of family, promote well-being, and prevent violence. It is internationally known as an innovator in using structured, small group conversations called cafès to facilitate transformation and healing within families.
nadid: 28799

Indiana

About Special Kids (ASK)
7172 Graham Rd
100
Indianapolis, Indiana 46250
Phone: 317-257-8683
About Special Kids (ASK) is a parent to parent organization working throughout the State to provide support, information, and resources to families with children with special needs. ASK uses a parent to parent model to offer families support, training on issues around special education and insurance programs, and referrals to community resources.
nadid: 27151

Kansas

Kansas Children's Service League
1365 North Custer
Wichita, Kansas 67203
Phone: (316) 942-4261
Kansas Children's Service League is a statewide nonprofit agency that works to prevent child abuse, strengthen families, and empower parents and youth.
nadid: 29687
Kansas Family Advisory Network
Wichita, Kansas 67208
Toll-Free: 1-800-969-5764
Kansas Family Advisory Network (KFAN) is a nonprofit network of family partners, organizations, groups, and agencies that have collaborated to promote safety, permanency, and well-being for children and their families who are at risk or involved with the child welfare system. KFAN takes a non-adversarial approach toward partnering with child welfare agencies and educating children, families, policy makers, and the larger society to gain timely permanency outcomes for children and families.
nadid: 27137
Families Together, Inc.
Kansas
Phone: (316) 945-7747
Families Together, Inc. is a nonprofit organization providing training and information to parents with children with disabilities, encouraging parents to be effective advocates for their children. Families Together, Inc. offers a parent to parent program that matches parents needing support and encouragement raising their children with disabilities to a parent who has this experience and is committed to supporting others.
nadid: 27138
The Arc of Sedgwick County
2919 W 2nd St
Wichita, Kansas 67203
Phone: 316-943-1191
The Arc of Sedgwick County promotes acceptance and involvement of people with intellectual disabilities and their families within the community, providing emotional support, accurate information, and direct serves that assist families meet their parenting responsibilities.
nadid: 27094

Maine

Maine Children's Trust
56 Leighton Road
Augusta, Maine 04330
Phone: (307) 623-5120
Maine Children's Trust works to prevent the abuse and neglect of children, in part, by assessing child abuse and neglect prevention needs throughout the State and taking the necessary steps to help meet those needs, such as providing grants to community-based parent support programs. The Trust also is charged with advising the State on the potential impact of policies and programs on the lives and well-being of children and leading efforts to address issues such as abusive head trauma, substance-exposed infants, and family visiting programs.
nadid: 29683

Massachusetts

Parents Helping Parents
108 Water Street
Watertown, Massachusetts 02472
Phone: (617) 926-5008
Toll-Free: 1-800-632-8188
Parents Helping Parents is a parent support organization that provides a statewide network of confidential and free parent support groups and runs a 24-hour helpline for parents. Groups are open to parents and caregivers who want to improve their relationship with their children and are facilitated by trained volunteer facilitators.
nadid: 29691

Michigan

Family Alliance for Change
3627 West Vernor Detroit, MI 48216
Detroit, Michigan 48216
Phone: (313) 531-2500
Family Alliance for Change, a division of Development Centers, Inc., is a parent-driven, peer-to-peer service offering support and education to parents with special needs children, empowering them to meet their family’s goals. It offers various support groups, father groups, and opportunities to advocate for policy changes by meeting with legislative representatives.
nadid: 27139
Michigan Children's Trust Fund
235 S. Grand Avenue
Suite 1411
Lansing, Michigan 48933
Phone: (517) 241-7792
Michigan Children's Trust Fund serves as a voice for Michigan's children and families and promotes their health, safety, and welfare by funding effective local programs and services that prevent child abuse and neglect.
nadid: 29682

Minnesota

Minnesota Communities Caring for Children/Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota
709 University Avenue West
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55104
Phone: 651.523.0099
Minnesota Communities Caring for Children and Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota partner together to work on preventing child abuse and neglect by training parents to be leaders in their community, facilitating mutual self-help support groups for parents throughout the State through Circle of Parents®, and educating communities on prevention and resilience-building.
nadid: 27149

Montana

Butte 4-C's
101 E. Main Street
Butte, Montana 59701
Phone: (406) 723-4019
Butte 4-C's is a nonprofit regional child care resource and referral agency serving children, families, and early childhood professionals in Montana. This agency is dedicated to strengthening families, supporting early childhood professionals, and promoting high quality, affordable child care.
nadid: 29680

New Hampshire

Waypoint
464 Chestnut Street
Manchester, New Hampshire 03105
Phone: (603) 518-4000
Waypoint, formerly Child and Family Services, is a nonprofit, direct services practitioner that serves individuals and families at every stage in life in New Hampshire. With 14 statewide offices, Waypoint offers many programs and services, some of which focus on child abuse prevention, family empowerment and support, adoption, homeless youth, family preservation, and services for adjudicated youth. The agency also has an advocacy component, working at the legislative level to shape public policies toward the best interests of children.
nadid: 29690

New Jersey

Statewide Parent Advocacy Network
35 Halsey Street
Fourth Floor
Newark, New Jersey 07102
Phone: (973) 642-8100
Toll-Free: 1-800-654-SPAN
The SPAN Parent Advocacy Network is an independent organization committed to empowering families as advocates and partners in improving outcomes for infants, toddlers, children and youth.
nadid: 29800

New York

GO Project
50 Cooper Square
3rd Floor
New York City, New York 10003
Phone: (212)533-3744
GO Project is a nonprofit organization serving academically struggling and under-resourced elementary and middle public school students from the Lower East Side and Chinatown in New York City. The GO Project offers a Parent Advocacy Leader Program in which parents can volunteer to become experts in the special education system to better support their own children as well as other children and parents in the community.
nadid: 27158
Child Welfare Organizing Project
80 E. 110th Street
#1E
New York, New York 10019
Phone: 212-348-3000
Child Welfare Organizing Project (CWOP) demands change and accountability in the New York child welfare system. CWOP hosts the Parent Advocate Network, which is run by CWOP-trained parent advocates (parents who have navigated the child welfare system successfully), and offers self-help support groups to parents involved in the child welfare system.
nadid: 26979
New Alternatives for Children
37 West 26th Street
New York, New York 10010
Phone: (212) 696-1552
New Alternatives for Children offers a broad range of programs and services. In addition to Prevention and Foster Care, NAC provides prevention aftercare and post adoption services, mental health and medical care, educational services, over 30 annual recreation activities and programs, creative arts programs, housing advocacy, and transportation services.
nadid: 29874
Center for Family Representation
40 Worth Street
Suite 605
New York City, New York 10013
Phone: (212) 691-0950
Center for Family Representation (CFR) is a nonprofit legal services organization working to keep families together and keep children out of the foster care system. Every client works with a team of professionals that includes a lawyer; social worker; and parent advocate, a trained professional who has firsthand experience with the child welfare system and has been successfully reunited with his or her children.
nadid: 27140

North Carolina

Our Children's Place of Coastal Horizons Center, Inc.
Durham, North Carolina 27709
Phone: (919) 904-4286
Our Children’s Place of Coastal Horizons Center, Inc. supports children of incarcerated parents by advocating for a statewide response to ensure their well-being. The Center presents workshops for professionals working with children, organizes a parent day at prison facilities, and works to identify policy areas in need of attention.
nadid: 27141
East Durham Children's Initiative
107 N. Driver St.
3rd Floor
Durham, North Carolina 27703
Phone: (919) 908-8709 ext. 102
East Durham Children’s Initiative (EDCI) is a nonprofit organization working to change the outcomes and expectations of children and families living in a 120-block of East Durham. The Initiative provides parent advocates for families in need of support, offering at-home visitations, information related to parenting, and referrals to community resources.
nadid: 27156
Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina
3716 National Drive
Suite 118
Raleigh, North Carolina 27612
Phone: (919) 641-3861
Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina (PCANC) is committed to the prevention of child abuse and neglect. Through investment in innovative programs proven to prevent child maltreatment before it occurs, PCANC helps North Carolina's communities decrease factors that put children at risk for abuse and increase factors that encourage children to thrive.
nadid: 29685

Ohio

National Coalition for Parent Advocacy in Child Protective Services
Ohio
The mission of the National Coalition for Parent Advocacy in Child Protective Services is to mobilize parents/caregivers and advocacy organizations to create positive public policy and program changes that prevent removal of children from their families by child protective services, strengthen and ensure the rights of families whose children have been removed, and return children to their families.
nadid: 28779

Oregon

Morrison Child & Family Services
1500 NE Irving Street
Suite 250
Portland, Oregon 97232
Phone: (503) 258-4568
Morrison Child and Family Services operates Parents Anonymous® of Oregon and the Parent Mentor Program. Parents Anonymous® of Oregon is an evidenced-based family strengthening program that serves as a culturally responsive and community-based intervention and prevention program, and it offers a safe environment for parents seeking support. The Parent Mentor Program provides peer mentoring to parents impacted by addiction and involved with the child welfare system.
nadid: 27142
Black Parent Initiative
2915 NE Martin Luther King Blvd
Portland, Oregon 97212
Phone: (503) 284-8000
Black Parent Initiative (BPI) works to educate and mobilize parents of Black and multiethnic children to ensure they achieve academic and lifelong success. BPI provides programs that focus on helping Black families strengthen their cultural identity, achieve stability, improve parenting skills, and connect with the community.
nadid: 27155

Rhode Island

Child & Family
31 John Clarke Road
Middletown, Rhode Island 02842
Phone: (401) 849-2300
Child & Family is a comprehensive social service provider in Newport County, and one of the largest in the State of Rhode Island. It is a center for community involvement and a place where people come together to give help, to receive help and to support the work of others. Child & Family provides important services and programs to thousands of children, teens, and families throughout Rhode Island each year.
nadid: 29660

Tennessee

Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee
4721 Trousdale Drive
Suite 121
Nashville, Tennessee 37220
Phone: 615-383-0994
Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee (PCAT) works with professionals, parents, and communities to provide education and resources to strengthen families, educate the community, and prevent child abuse statewide. PCAT offers a parent helpline for parents in need of information, referrals, and empathy. PCAT also works to build leadership skills in parents to help them advocate for their own children and ultimately on behalf of families throughout the State by becoming instrumental voices on prevention program planning teams.
nadid: 27159

Texas

Parent Guidance Center
9600 Escarpment Blvd
Suite 745-255
Austin, Texas 78749
Parent Guidance Center is an advocacy organization that focuses on areas needing improvement in the child welfare system, bringing the parent voice to the table, recommending changes to policies and procedures, determining where money should be spent, and opposing negative parent legislation while supporting better legislation for families.
nadid: 29140
Children's Advocacy Center of Tom Green County, Inc.
317 Koberlin Street
San Angelo, Texas 76903
Phone: (325) 653-4673
Children's Advocacy Center of Tom Green County, Inc., houses programs that provide services aimed at breaking the cycle of child abuse and securing for each child a safe and nurturing home. The Center also promotes a culture of care through community events that provide prevention, awareness, and education for children and families.
nadid: 29688

Vermont

Prevent Child Abuse Vermont
Vermont
Phone: (802) 229-5724
Prevent Child Abuse Vermont is committed to promoting and supporting healthy relationships between children and the people who care for them in order to eliminate child abuse and neglect.
nadid: 29689

Virginia

Families Forward Virginia
2211 Dickens Road
Suite 204
Richmond, Virginia 23230
Phone: (804) 359-6166
Families Forward Virginia is a nonprofit organization dedicated to disrupting the cycles of child abuse, neglect, and poverty. It provides statewide leadership for and unifies support for a multitude of Virginia programs through evidence-based and multi-generational prevention strategies. Program areas include home visiting programs, family support and education, professional development, child sexual abuse prevention programs, advocacy, public awareness/public education.
nadid: 29684

Washington

Parent Trust for Washington Children
2200 Rainier Avenue South
Seattle, Washington 98144
Phone: 206.233.0156
Parent Trust for Washington Children promotes safe, healthy families and communities by offering a variety of programs for families, including expectant and new parent services, Circle of Parents®, and Families in Recovery. These programs offer support, education, and leadership opportunities for parents in various situations.
nadid: 27153
Birth Parent National Network
Seattle, Washington 98115
Together with its partners, the National Alliance of Children's Trust and Prevention Funds established the Birth Parent National Network (BPNN). BPNN consists of parents and organizations who are committed to improving policies for better outcomes for children and families with a focus on establishing parent leaders who are willing to share their challenges and successes across the country to impact change.
nadid: 27165
Washington State Parent Ally Committee
Seattle, Washington 98115
Phone: 206-695-3238
Washington State Parent Ally Committee (WSPAC) is an association of Parent Allies who have successfully navigated the child welfare system and now collaborate to improve outcomes for those families entering the system. WSPAC works to strengthen and support families by bringing the parent voice into the development of child welfare policy and practice and advocating for parent leadership in direct service, training, and public awareness activities.
nadid: 27143