The Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council is overseeing the Family NET Works project under a grant from the U.S. Administration on Developmental Disabilities. The project was developed in partnership with people with developmental disabilities, parents, advocates, service providers, and state agencies.

Family NET Works is focused on:

• Improving and increasing supports and services available to Maryland families that have a child with a developmental disability;
  
  
• Increasing families' knowledge and understanding of a wide range of traditional, generic, and progressive family supports so they access the services they need; and
  
  
• Reaching families that have traditionally been underserved, especially those who are from cultural or linguistic minority backgrounds and those new to Maryland.

Components of Family NET Works are this website, and the Family NET Works egroup, which we hope you find interactive, family-friendly and very useful. Another key component is through the awarding of mini-grants and support grants, through which outreach, training, and empowerment of underserved and un-served families has occurred.

The following values have shaped the content of the Family NET Works site:

• Communities are rich and diverse. This project encourages communities that value every one, regardless of where they are perceived to fall on the spectrum of ability.
  
  
• The term "family" is used to define any configuration of people who are supportive to an individual with a disability, in the way a family is recognized as doing; and whom the individual recognizes as their family, regardless of whether there is a blood relation or if the involved individuals reside in the same household.
  
  
• Services should focus on the entire family- the person with the disability, parents, siblings and other involved people.
  
  
• Families and individuals should have personal choice and control over their lives. They should be full partners in support systems.
  
  
• Services should be reliable and easily available, but not imposed on families.
  
  
• Care and support received from extended family, friends, neighbors, and religious and community organizations is important.
  
  
• All supports should be provided within the community; and, individuals and families needing supports should be the ones to determine which supports best meet their needs. They should have control over funding, delivery, and quality of supports.
  
  
• All communities and the supports they provide should welcome and be fully accessible for every citizen. Whenever possible, people with disabilities should access the same services and supports that members of the community without disabilities access.
  
  
• Families deserve support to care for their family member at home, in a manner that builds on social networks and natural resources.
  
  
• Services and supports should encourage inclusion of individuals with disabilities in their home communities.