Mission
Northwest’s Child was established in 1989 when it was discovered that
there were no programs that existed to serve the exclusive and crucial
needs of children and teens with severe disabilities when they became
older and/or their needs more involved. On June 10th, of 1991, the
doors of Northwest’s Child opened to serve 12-13 school aged children
between the ages of 7 years & 21 years old.
Our program serves as an extension to each school day,
offering continued education, vocational skills, social skills and
community integration for each student regardless of the severity of
their disabilities. During “out of school” days, we serve as a full day
program offering all of the above services as well as a strong
community based experience.
The families of our students are most often low income
and/or single parents. Our program provides a strong advocacy resource
for them and provides any and all services and support they might need
to access the best for their children /teen with special needs. We also
offer a sliding scale fee and contract with multiple DSHS departments
in order to obtain the most subsidies available to take the place of
out of pocket costs to the families.
Northwest’s Child is a year round program and continues
to be the only program of it’s kind in Western Washington. Currently
there are two school aged sites; Seattle & Lynnwood.
In 2004, Northwest’s Child opened another
first-of-a-kind program. This program would be the first adult day
program for recent high school graduates(age 21) and other young adults
with severe/profound disabilities 5 days a week, year round. This
program would offer not only continued attention and work on each
students’ individual goals but also serve as a one-on-one service so
that that each student can work with local merchants & businesses
as a truly active contributing member of their community. Each adult
student goes to job sites as a volunteer or very part time employee
along with a support staff to ensure their safety and assist them in
any tasks not yet mastered. Other times of the day, the staff &
students can be found swimming, going to lunch, the movies or just
enjoying the sites and sounds of the surrounding area.
We are anticipating the opening of a second adult
program on the east side in the very near future. This new site is due
to open in the fall of 2006.