“My child has special needs…
our family needs help finding help!”

Families of children with special needs often don’t know what to do. Where do you begin looking for services that you know your child needs? Who do you call? Who will want to help you get for your child exactly what he needs to live the best life possible? It can be very overwhelming. All you want is exactly what every other parent wants for their child; a life filled with opportunities for him to take and learn from that will enable him to reach his full potential. How do you help him overcome these hurtles that life has presented him with and manage the realities?

Medical Home Plus is a new organization that has been formed to help bring these services together; to maximize the financial resources, personnel power, and resources available for programs and services by teaming up with other programs to share infrastructure, expenses, and expertise. This frees up more money and time to assist more children and families across the state.

We've been there ...

Searching for information and resources can be overwhelming for anyone. This challenge is even more difficult when one is looking for direction and assistance for your child with special needs. We've been there. The majority of the Board of Directors, management team and employees of Medical Home Plus are parents and/or family members of a person with special health care needs. We know how it feels. We know the frustrations of going down false paths or discovering dead ends. We know the loneliness. We know the worries for the future. We know the insomnia and the fatigue. And we know the joy of watching your child do something you never thought possible.

It shouldn't be this hard. All we want for our child is what every other parent wants for their child. Having a child with special health care needs is tough enough without also having to be expert on your child's condition, special education, disability law, insurance variations, state and federal bureaucracies and many other topics. There must be a way to short-circuit the learning curve. These are some of the issues that led to the formation of Medical Home Plus.

Medical Home Plus was created to help facilitate connections between families and their needs. By collaborating with others to share expertise, infrastructure and expenses, we work to maximize the available information and resources to better serve more children with special health care needs and their families. Our passion is to work with families, providers, programs and organizations of all types to ensure that the necessary information, services and resources are available to help our children learn, change and grow to their fullest potential.

We've been there. That is one of the passions that drives our organization. We can make this better together.

Neil at the Prom 2005    

From the Medical Director

Colleen A. Kraft, MD, FAAP

Children have many caregivers providing support as they grow and develop. Teachers, coaches, child care providers, and other influential adults will change; parents and physicians, however, will often provide continuity throughout the infant, toddler, preschool, school age, and adolescent chapters of a child’s life. Physicians can have important, lifelong influences on children during their lives.

Medical Home is the approach to care that complements and defines the role of a physician in partnership with families to develop excellent health, inner strength, and resilience in our children and their families. Medical Home Plus provides the “Plus” through our projects, programs and collaborations.

Medical Home training for primary care practices works through physicians, office staff, and parents to develop delivery systems that will improve the quality of care for all children. Partnership with United Way Success by 6, early education, child care, and The Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation supports an evidence based program of social/emotional development and parent training to our youngest children. Parent education is offered in the community - including jails.

Medical Home Plus provides the link between your child’s doctor and the community resources for your child and family. As we grow, we are committed to projects and partnerships that will improve the communication between all professionals, parents, and programs that serve children-making connections.