We are glad you found us! 

One day, two mothers, Yong Meador and Jodi Arnold,  met in the NICU.  As they comforted each other through some extremely stressful times, they realized that they could help others by providing other families with some of the same support.   They created a parent group for parents with children with disabilities, to support each other in good times and in bad.  Their group blossomed and became EFECT-Encouraging Families with Exceptional Children Together.  (Please read more about the birth of EFECT in the section "A Brief History of EFECT.")

Since then, we have taken that group and expanded it to over 1200 families in the Kansas City Metro.  We provide every one of our events at no charge to our families.  It is our wish to give parents the tools they need to be the best advocate for their child.

Some of the valuable tools we share are a listserv which provides a network of very knowledgeable parents who "have been there, and done that."  We also have a bi-monthly newsletter (which is currently on hiatus until we can get funding to reinstate it) that will give you up and coming events in the Kansas City Metro, amazing stories of family victories, and many other articles to teach you things about the disability community you may not have known.  We ask parents to send in articles about their families or topics that they feel are important enough to share with the other members of our group.  We also have networking meetings once a month to give parents the opportunity to share their stories with other families and realize that they are not alone.

This is a group which supports parents of children with an array of disabilities.  We want you to share your experiences with us.  Please sign up for the listserv and to receive our newsletter.  We are confident you will find them both beneficial!

Again, welcome to EFECT where we Encourage Families with Exceptional Children Together!