National FindFamily Registry

For decades, parents of children with disabilities were advised by professionals to institutionalize their child and in effect "forget you ever had them." But times have changed. State institutions are rapidly being replaced by smaller, community-based residential settings that support connection between people with disabilities and their families.

Families may have lost touch with family members with disabilities for other reasons too, like divorce, foster care or adoption, personal problems or misfortune.

Nationwide, there are thousands of people with disabilities in care settings with no connection with family. Many families seek contact, but do not know how to re-connect with their family member. The FindFamily Registry is open to people seeking each other even though just bits of information are available.

To read the experiences of other families, go to:

• http://www.wheresmolly.net
• Andy and Jeff Rosenberg
• Layne DeLoff
• Anne Shepherd
• View CNN's recent coverage here and here.
• People Magazine
• Arthur Miller's Secret Son
• Rocky Mountain News
• What Happened to Ricky (Wall Street Journal, May 31)
  

 

Learn how we protect the information you enter.

To enter your information, click on one of the following:

I am a family member.

I am a person with a disability or an advocate for such a person.

TheArcLink's National FindFamily Registry is a beginning point for collecting information and connecting families with their family members. We have a lot of work to do, and we need your help. Will you give $25, $50 or more to help us connect families?