SUSANNE BUXBAUM
 Susanne Buxbaum, Child Rights
Advocate, has been working on behalf of the
families of children (and adults) with
special needs for more than twenty years,
providing direct advocacy services
throughout California. More recently, she
has provided services across the country,
using cutting-edge technology and
advocates-in-training in a variety of
locales to stand beside parents and children
in a collaborative effort with school
districts and agencies from whom these
families receive services or funding.
Over the past five years, her
focus has broadened to include a social
service strategy, called Wraparound, that
she believes that with some modifications to
the original model, can apply to a variety
of challenging life situations involving
transitions and reunifications. As an
experienced Wraparound Trainer, she has
provided Wraparound trainings and workshops
to county partners (Juvenile Justice,
Department of Social Service, Behavioral
Health, Education) and nonprofit agencies
who are just beginning their Wraparound work
in systems-of-care communities.
Susanne became interested in
“different learners” when she was teaching
grades K-8, and tutoring students who needed
additional help; seeking out and developing
innovative strategies and learning methods
to log “new information” into long-term
memory. Her independent studies led her to
investigate and develop expertise in the
areas about the Federal and State laws and
codes affecting Children with Special
Needs.
The LLC she founded, Family
Matters Group, recently transitioned to
Family Matters Foundation, a nonprofit
organization. Her reason for this change
was to make it possible for under-served
populations across the country to access her
services at little or no cost.
Residing near the coast in
Central California, Susanne lives with her
husband and two beagles and is currently
working on a book that will compile the
information all advocates for Children With
Special Needs to have at their fingertips
when working on behalf of “other people’s
children”. She is also formulating a
criteria, which she hopes will soon become a
required standard for those who call
themselves “advocates”, yet who have no
expertise in the area of Special Education
and the experience and continuing education
that this profession requires.
* *
* * *
THE REST OF “US”
ADVOCATES
Across the country, a handful
of advocates who are independent contractors
who Susanne has become acquainted with and
has mentored, are ready for work when
Susanne calls upon them. These
professionals consult with Susanne on cases
that may set a precedent in that geographic
area, or are high profile cases that require
outside-of-the-box thinking, making the
“individual” in “Individualized Education
Programs”, the very operative word. The
majority of these experts have Special Needs
children of their own, and understand the
process from the inside-out, having lived
through the struggles that client families
often encounter. By having other
Professional Advocates available, screened,
mentored and trusted by Susanne, it is less
likely that cases will come up which she
must refuse for reasons of a too-hefty
caseload.
FRIENDS OF FAMILY MATTERS
GROUP
Over the years, one dynamic
that most of Susanne’s clients have in
common is what she’s called, “The Need To Be
Heard”. Often these parents have tried to
get the attention of teachers, principals,
mental health professionals, desperately
seeking answers to the question, “What is
wrong with my child?”, when the child
processes differently, for whatever reason,
than others.
Often, parents struggle for
years as the academic clock continues to
tick and their children lose ground, unable
to do grade level work in the standard
learning model. While trying to get a
handle on the fundamental need (learning
disability, mental health issue,
neurological problem, etc.) of the Learning
Different child, these parents are asked to
“wait”, are frequently sent to various
departments within a school, district, or
community, then end up at the same place
they started.
They long to talk to someone
who understands the challenges they’ve
faced, while their children are struggling
at school: challenges at home
regarding behaviors they can’t understand
and are ashamed to discuss, even among close
relatives; at work with a phone that
rings too frequently, with calls from the
child’s teachers, the principal, or worse,
the Police Department, making it necessary
for parents to quit their jobs, always
running the risk of losing them,
involuntarily, due to excessive absenteeism
and too many “personal calls” to the office.
When these families begin
receiving advocacy assistance from FMG., the
process usually involves a series of
meetings, some at school, some with other
agencies, particularly once a family has
filed a request for Mediation or Due
Process, they need to know what to expect,
how to act, who will be there, etc. They
want to convey their totally appropriate
anxiety to someone who knows what they’re
going through.
One FMG policy that can
complicate matters even more for a family’s,
is that of absolute confidentiality,
mentioned in every client’s contract. FMG
must insist that clients do not discuss
their case with friends, family, neighbors,
coworkers and even with the child, in some
cases. This requirement is meant to keep
the facts “pure” and unpolluted by the
comments or interpretations of well-meaning
friends or family and is similar to
commitments of confidentiality requested by
attorneys in matters of civil law, and for
the very same reason.
Unfortunately, this hard and
fast rule can sometimes make families feel
isolated. And when calls to the one person
who they MAY talk to, the FMG Advocate, are
on the clock (at over $3.00/minute),
families often feel like they just need
reassurance or confirmation from someone
that everything will be alright. Susanne
recognizes that families really DO need feel
the need, either to vent about their child,
other children, the school, a teacher,
concerns about an upcoming meeting, and
require assurance (or perhaps to review the
plan) about the events now in place to help
their children become successful both in and
outside of school.
Throughout the country, a
group of Susanne’s former clients, educated
in “the process” and wanting to help others
who are now walking in their paths, have
offered to be “on call” for these parents at
no cost. FRIENDS and clients requesting this
mentorship relationship are matched by
Susanne, so that the concerns of the “new
family” are similar to those previously
faced by the FMG FRIEND.
Although FRIENDS do not
provide legal advice or change strategic
planning regarding a client’s case, they
may, with client’s permission, take that
concern to the FMG Advocate, if it appears
that the client needs more information or
has questions about any part of the plan.
TEAM PSYCHOLOGISTS
Most of FMG’s clients’
children have had contact with or are
currently receiving the services of a
therapist, either through private therapy
groups, during diagnostic evaluations or
provided through County Children’s
Behavioral Health. Occasionally, when
conflicting reports appear regarding the
diagnosis of one child, or when a situation
is complicated due to unusual health
conditions coupled with a dual diagnoses,
for example, Susanne may request the
assistance or feedback from a psychologist
on the FMG Team. These professionals are
familiar with Susanne’s strength-based
family work, her advocacy style and unique
relationships with each family and work as
another professional member of the team to
keep a family unified. |
