Laura
04-06-2007, 08:54 AM
Picture this - the school calls and says that your child needs to be evaluated for special education. The Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) sends an investigative team to your home to determine if you are a fit parent.
Your child is diagnosed with a “disorder,” and you don’t know what it means. They’re asking you to sign paper after paper, but you don’t really understand what the papers say. You feel like you’re caught in a tidal wave.
Thousands of parents, often single mothers, face this nightmare scenario. However, they do not have to deal with their mentally challenged children alone. They can “get a lifeline,” or answers and guidance at the Parent Resource Center of Queens (PRCQ) in Elmhurst.
Not to be confused with the Queens Parent Resource Center (for the developmentally disabled), the center is the product of the City’s Mental Health Association, which proposed the idea to the State Department of Mental Health and Hygiene. On March 1, the operation moved from the Queens Children’s Psychiatric Center in Bellerose to the Medical Building at 87-08 Justice Avenue in Elmhurst.The center acts both as advocate for the parents, explaining unfamiliar terms and informing them of their rights, and as a haven, providing “respite” sessions for frazzled parents, to watch a movie on TV in peace, or pamper themselves with a manicure.
Since starting up last October, PRCQ has helped about 40 parents “get control of their family back,” according to Jacobs. “Right now we have nine new intakes, and another five applicants. Sometimes they just need a referral to a therapist or an explanation and they move on. Some we work with on an ongoing basis.” she said. (http://www.queenscourier.com/articles/2007/04/05/news/headline_stories/news05.txt)
Your child is diagnosed with a “disorder,” and you don’t know what it means. They’re asking you to sign paper after paper, but you don’t really understand what the papers say. You feel like you’re caught in a tidal wave.
Thousands of parents, often single mothers, face this nightmare scenario. However, they do not have to deal with their mentally challenged children alone. They can “get a lifeline,” or answers and guidance at the Parent Resource Center of Queens (PRCQ) in Elmhurst.
Not to be confused with the Queens Parent Resource Center (for the developmentally disabled), the center is the product of the City’s Mental Health Association, which proposed the idea to the State Department of Mental Health and Hygiene. On March 1, the operation moved from the Queens Children’s Psychiatric Center in Bellerose to the Medical Building at 87-08 Justice Avenue in Elmhurst.The center acts both as advocate for the parents, explaining unfamiliar terms and informing them of their rights, and as a haven, providing “respite” sessions for frazzled parents, to watch a movie on TV in peace, or pamper themselves with a manicure.
Since starting up last October, PRCQ has helped about 40 parents “get control of their family back,” according to Jacobs. “Right now we have nine new intakes, and another five applicants. Sometimes they just need a referral to a therapist or an explanation and they move on. Some we work with on an ongoing basis.” she said. (http://www.queenscourier.com/articles/2007/04/05/news/headline_stories/news05.txt)