What We Do
Watch the short video below about how the NCFPP helps families of children with special health care needs.
Project Goals
The National Center for Family / Professional Partnerships (NCFPP) promotes families as partners in the decision-making of healthcare for children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) at all levels of care. Activities are supported by three major goals:
GOAL 1: Establish and facilitate the work of a community of family leaders through peer mentoring, training and technical assistance.
The NCFPP is staffed by family leaders, parents of CYSHCN, who themselves have learned how to navigate systems and work successfully with providers and other professionals. These staff work with Family-to-Family Health Information Centers in every state. Together we form a community that is committed to helping all children receive culturally-competent, community-based, family-centered care. As a community we support one another, celebrate our accomplishments, share our strategies and knowledge, and help one another overcome barriers. The NCFPP facilitates this community network and provides information/technical assistance in key areas, such as organizational development, health care policy, cultural and linguistic competency, and data reporting.
GOAL 2: Contribute to the evidence base documenting the value of family/professional partnerships and family-centered care through gathering and reporting data including best practices based on family wisdom.
The NCFPP documents characteristics and benefits of family/professional partnerships so that these practices become more widely accepted and implemented. Quantitative evidence coupled with family stories will lead to more successful partnership practices. The NCFPP collects and analyzes data on the assistance, training, and outreach undertaken by F2F HICs to families and professionals. Additionally, the NCFPP works with partners to develop materials and tools on family-centered care and other components of quality health care. In partnership with the NCCC in 2010, the NCFPP has hosted monthly Community of Learners: Sharing the Wisdom calls with F2F HICs seeking to better outreach to tribal communities.
GOAL 3: Optimize opportunities to accomplish the MCHB national agenda through reciprocal learning and partnership activities with MCHB national centers, grant program, state and local CYSHCN/MCHB programs and other strategic partners.
Implementation of MCHB Outcomes requires collaborative efforts among all MCHB National Centers and other key stakeholders. The NCFPP brings the family perspective to these efforts, often assisting other centers and professionals to work in partnership with families. Specific collaborations have included work with American Academy of Pediatrics to highlight the successes of F2F HICs, work with the Catalyst Center to identify health care financing issues for families, and collaborations with the National Center on Cultural Competence to help F2F staff engage families in diverse communities.
NCFPP Project Organizational Chart
