Starting in December 1998, the Department of Human Services sponsored a series of
Leadership Roundtables on Children with Special Health Care Needs and their families.
These meetings, which included parents, advocates, providers, state agency
representatives, as well as policy makers, identified the need for fundamental
improvements in the current system of care for these children. Rhode Island children with
special needs and their families have significant unmet needs for information, objective
professional assessment, care planning, care coordination, referral assistance and
support. The Leadership Roundtable strongly recommended that services be family-centered
and community-based, recognizing that the family plays a central role in a child’s
life and is an essential partner in his/her care.
A vision statement was developed by the Leadership Roundtable on Children with Special
Health Care Needs. It reads: " All Rhode Island children and their families have an
evolving, family centered, strength based system of care, dedicated to excellence, so they
can reach their full potential and thrive in their own communities."
