A Position Statement on Organizing Support for Family Groups in the Durham Region
John O’Brien
Oct. 1998
A position statement defines a proposal for concerned people to build on. It is not a plan to be implemented but a possibility for involved people to develop through their reactions. This position statement arises from the work of a group of parents and staff who have been active in shaping the family network in the Durham Region. The group met on 6-7 October 1998 to review the development of the family network and to consider what will be necessary for the network to thrive in Ontario’s changing service and civic environment. John O’Brien facilitated the meeting and drafted this position statement based on a record of the discussion that was carefully reviewed with participants in the discussion.
This position statement is not a proposal to attract resources from outside the family network. It is a proposal to stimulate the discussion that will build agreements and lead to resource planning within the family network. The position statement assumes that readers are familiar with support circles and family groups, and the variety of differences among circles and family groups, from their own involvement.
Current realities
A growing number of families in the Durham Region live out an important truth. The quality of family life, and the quality of life for a family member with a disability, improves when a family dares to develop support for its dreams of a positive future. Families2 live out this truth when they move from isolation to creating and sustaining relationships that help them find and hold their dreams of a full life and to assist them in realizing those dreams.
