New Mexico Families as Faculty (NMFAF)
Links:
Families as Faculty (FAF) brings together families of children with disabilities and future educators and health care professionals by providing a framework for professionals to learn from families. FAF Families meet with university students to share their experiences, both positive and negative, with the education and health care systems. During this exchange, families are the faculty - the instructors. They are the experts on the parent perspective. As part of the students’ required curriculum, FAF gives credibility to the voices of families.
FAF gives students an opportunity to listen to family stories so they can understand the impact that teachers, therapists, and the education and health care systems can have on the daily life of a child with a disability and his or her family. They discover how the systems that are supposed to help families sometimes let them down. They learn how they, as future professionals, can work in partnership with families to improve systems, services, and outcomes for children with disabilities. In addition, the students come to see the child with a disability as a member of a family - as someone who is loved, has interests, conflicts, and needs, just like any other child.
In the last year, evaluations showed that 99% of the students thought the FAF program was a positive and relevant experience, and 98% stated that the experience will influence their future relationships with families. As one student noted, “It puts faces and real people to the ‘idea’ of students with special needs.” To read more quotes from education, medical, nursing, and occupational therapy students, go to our Testimonials page.
Our FAF parents know that the time they spent opening their hearts and homes was productive. Their words made a difference in the lives of the students they met. Their positive impact will affect the lives of every child and family these future professionals will work with. Families describe the FAF program as empowering for them and their children and as an opportunity to make a difference in the system two students at a time. One volunteer parent commented that, “I feel that my time spent in the Family as Faculty program allows me to see the change we accomplish as the first ripple that occurs after you throw a stone in the water. I know that what we do with and thru PRO will have ripples that get larger and larger as time passes.”
Families as Faculty is an adaptation of the family-centered-care curriculum for medical students. The principles of family-centered care (Click here for a PDF), such as parent and professional collaboration, respect for the family’s expertise, and fostering empowerment by focusing on a family’s strengths are the foundation of the FAF program.
Our expectation is that the students will come away from their family visit with:
- An understanding that all children and families are different, each with unique strengths, values, beliefs, and challenges.
- A view of families as resources with whom they can partner and learn from in order to achieve better outcomes for children.
- A consideration of their own personal beliefs, values, and attitudes about children, families, the educational and medical systems, and their capacity to effect positive change.
Families as Faculty is aligned with the New Mexico three-tiered teacher licensure system. It supports the competency requirements of:
- Recognizing student diversity and creating an atmosphere conducive to the promotion of positive student involvement and self-concept (Competency #7).
- Promoting family communication and collaboration (Competency #9).
For more details on these competencies and a full listing of the NM Teacher Competencies, you can visit the Teach New Mexico website, NM-Teacher-Competencies
When systems listen to families, outcomes for children will improve. FAF starts the process at the beginning - with the students who will become the leaders in the education and health care fields. Together, families and professionals can work towards positive change.
Families as Faculty is funded by the New Mexico Public Education Department, the New Mexico Department of Health - Family Infant and Toddler program (FIT), and the University of New Mexico Medical School - Continuum of Care.
