Family liaison specialist hired to bring family perspective to programs that serve children with special health care needs

(6/04) -- Welcome to Marlyn Wells, the first Family Liaison Specialist with the Division of Public Health's Children & Youth Branch! Marlyn, her husband Bob, and daughters Caitlin (nearly 17) and Anna (just 13) are natives of Arkansas and live in Raleigh. Anna, her youngest child, was medically fragile during infancy and continues to have chronic medical concerns. According to Marlyn, "Anna now exhibits rampant, typical adolescent behaviors."

A respiratory therapist by training, Marlyn has worked on disability issues for the past eleven years beginning with volunteer service as a parent representative on the Wake County Consortium with the Early Intervention Local Interagency Coordinating Council. For the past 8 ½ years she has worked with the ECAC (Exceptional Children's Assistance Center) as a Parent Educator.

Marlyn's bedrock belief is that families are their children's best advocates. She feels that we must respect, support and encourage parents as they lead us in developing systems that are reflective of the values that families practice. Her responsibility with the Children and Youth Branch will be to support an integrated, family-centered philosophy and practice within the Branch. She will also be advising the Health Check/Health Choice Program as we reach out to families of children with special health care needs who are uninsured or underinsured.