Written by: Alice Zhang, FCSN Voices Youth Reporter
Graphics by: Alice Sun, FCSN Voices Graphic Artist

In the US, almost 70% of all adults with special needs live at home under the care of their parents or other family caregivers according to the Special Needs Alliance. Many of these families grapple with struggles like finding accommodations for their child’s needs, hiring suitable service providers, and planning for the future. FCSN’s Coordinated Family Service (CFS) is a program that alleviates stress by providing extensive, flexible, person-to-person assistance for these families. The only requirements to join the program are being 18 years or older and living with family. With its comprehensive support, the program not only offers a wide range of services for stay-at-home special needs adults, but also provides hope and support for their families.

The FCSN CFS program’s services and mission are similar to that of the state CFS program, which was created in 2023 by the California Department of Developmental services. After the pandemic, many programs originally supporting adults with special needs closed. The CFS program was created to compensate for the resulting deficit in resources through services tailored for special needs adults living at home. FCSN’s CFS program strives to achieve a similar goal but specifically geared to serve the Asian community and encourage Asian parents to be more open to receiving help. “ We [asian families] don’t reach out enough. We are not looking around enough for the resources that we are entitled to,” Patty Chou, FCSN CFS program’s lead, said. She attributes this pattern to cultural and language gaps that hinder the Asian community from actively exploring different services and resources. By reaching out to more Asian families in the Bay Area through the FCSN CFS program, Ms. Chou wants to encourage families to overcome that mindset. 

As part of their mission to service the Asian community, the FCSN CFS program provides useful services and seeks out eligible resources for families. To ensure clients receive personalized support, the program conducts a thorough assessment of an individual’s functional skills,  needs, preferences, and interests. Using the information from the assessment, staff create a CFS plan of action concerning nine general areas of assistance. Depending on the families’ needs, CFS staff will focus on one specific area of assistance, multiple, or all nine. If a client is looking for direct family support or care coordination, CFS will help with home life support, available services, and diagnoses and medical support. Home life support entails acquiring respite services, which are short term care arrangements that offer relief for family members, and finding a permanent caretaker most suited to an individual’s needs. By making sure a caretaker is both qualified and has work styles and personalities that best match with a family, the FCSN CFS program simplifies this commonly long and arduous process for clients. CFS also helps clients find and access services and resources that they are entitled to. Ms. Chou said, “ Some of the families, they’re entitled to so many things and they do not know about [those things]. And those services, those resources, are not just limited to regional center resources, but also resources from the community level, from the county level, from the state level, or even some professional services.” In terms of medical support, FCSN CFS offers information regarding diagnoses and medical information. Whether individuals are struggling with unhealthy habits, specific dietary needs, or sickness and discomfort, CFS program will examine the symptoms and give advice on what course of action to take. For example, Ms. Chou described a client who regularly spent five to six hours finishing her dinner which interfered with her sleep schedule and daytime activities. Her parents initially believed it was just “a really bad habit,” but with the help of CFS, learned that it could be a medical or psychological issue and were directed to a specialist. 

Besides direct family support, CFS also assists with more technical aspects of clients’ lives and emergency planning. The program covers logistical assistance, assisting families with the paperwork and appeals often involved in program registration. CFS also informs clients about reliable transportation options and services by connecting them to resources like VTA and Yellow Cab, depending on their area of residence. To prepare for emergencies, CFS ensures all clients have backup providers or services for areas including transportation, caretaking, and facilities. “ Every little detail we have to think about and we have to have a plan for. So this way the parents don’t really have to worry as much about the individual,” Ms. Chou said. Other than practical logistics, the FCSN CFS program also helps families with long-term planning for their special needs individual. CFS staff help parents look ahead and acquire fiduciary services, legal arrangements, and even burial services. They also provide personalized training to help special needs individuals develop skills to gain more independence. Clients learn a diverse skillset, ranging from job preparation and studying English to learning everyday tasks such as riding public transit. Through extensive support and planning, the FCSN CFS program provides reliable services to help families navigate all aspects of life.

The FCSN CFS program places a strong emphasis on flexibility, personalized services, and working one-on-one with every client. This means maintaining direct communication with parents, either in-person or online through weekly Zoom meetings, to better understand their clients’ needs. From working with a client who likes to regularly change activities and thus, requires frequent car rides, multiple showers, and lots of movement to one who loves fishing on weekends but has aging parents who can no longer accompany him, the FCSN CFS program team collaborates closely with families to hear their unique stories, identify their needs, and arrange accommodations to help fulfill those neds.

Looking ahead, the FCNS CFS program plans to reach out to more families in Asian communities and increase staff while maintaining their goal of providing tailored services to help improve family well-being and alleviate the pressures that many parents and caregivers face. “I’m really willing to help out the parents to ease their worries and to see them go from helpless family to having something to look forward to. So their children can look to a brighter future. To give them a sense of hope,” Ms. Chou said. Together, Ms. Chou and the CFS team are dedicated to spreading that hope to every family they support — and to many more in the future.