Parent to Parent of New York State Staff Members

Tina began her vocation in the field of Educational Advocacy after her son, David, was born with Down Syndrome. When her son started in school there were few agencies to help her. She felt the world had moved her family aside and that they were all alone. She was told by a friend to call Parent to Parent of NYS. When she called she found a kind voice on the other end of the phone that said YOU ARE NOT ALONE. WE ARE HERE TO HELP! Tina has a true passion for what she does and is committed to educating parents and professional to insure that ALL children with special needs receive “A Free and Appropriate Public Education.” Tina lives in Schenectady County with her husband Ronald and their two children David and Ronald II.

Valerie’s passion for connecting with special needs families started the birth of her son, who was born with a visual impairment, the genetic disorder galatosemia and later received an autism diagnosis. Having a child with both physical and developmental disabilities motivated her to get involved with her local special need community, to advocate for not only her child and herself, but all children and all families. Over the years Valerie has served on several boards that support children and adults with special needs and is actively involved with her son’s school district.  When Valerie isn’t busy working at Parent to Parent, you can find her spending time on the water with friends and family.

Angie worked 10+ years in the hospitality industry in private events. She holds a BA, Fashion Merchandising from SUNY Fashion Institute of Technology. She hails from California. When she’s not advocating for parents, she can be found hiking in the great outdoors or relaxing beachside with family and friends. She currently resides in Queens with her husband and two children.

As a support parent and in her current position she uses her experience as the mom of two young Adults with Autism to provide support, guidance and information to parents. Being able to help other parents has been a passion of Dodie’s for years. Helping other parents get the support they need, find the information and resources to engage their children in the community and find programs their children can participate in and enjoy, has always been important to Dodie.

Dodie is an active member of the town of Brookhaven Disability Task Force
and continues to volunteer with Popearth and Rolling Thunder.

Dodie has a Master’s Degree in Education specializing in family and community service from Ashford University.

Maryalice became involved in the disability community on Staten Island after her then 4-year-old son was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome. She and her husband were blind-sided by the diagnosis and, over the upcoming months (and years), Maryalice immersed herself in the world of therapies and counseling, and quickly learned the challenges facing a parent who has a child with special needs, as well as the uphill battles they must fight – sometimes on a daily basis — in the best interests of their children. The one thing that helped Maryalice the most were the moms she met along the way. She learned where to go for everything from social skills programs to dentists for children with special needs. It is this knowledge that she now shares with the families who reach out to Parent to Parent.

In her time at Parent to Parent, Maryalice has worked hard to offer support and comfort to families of children with developmental disabilities and/or special health care needs. She understands that when parents are at their lowest point, getting a compassionate, understanding voice on the other end of the phone can sometimes make all the difference. Maryalice partners with other organizations to co-host a parent training series, as well as other informative workshops. In addition, she presents an Education Records Organizer workshop.

Maryalice resides on Staten Island with her husband and their 14-year-old twins, who are in their freshman year of high school. Her daughter, who is a fantastic writer, is a fan of the NY Giants and the NY Mets and enjoys going to games with her father. Maryalice’s son is a Boy Scout who has his eye on becoming an Eagle Scout and who loves all things technological. In the summer, Maryalice and her family enjoy spending time at her family’s home in upstate New York.

Barb’s sons are now 32 and 30 and live at home with support in community settings through self-direction. Barb and her family are seasoned travelers and are looking forward to resuming their adventures post-pandemic.  Barb is a member of OPWDD’s Family Support Services advisory board for the Western North region.  Barb also represents Parent to Parent of NYS and the families we serve  in the Medicaid Matters committee and the Guardianship  Alternatives and Transfer of Rights Advisory Board for New York State.

Prior to working at Parent to Parent of NYS, Michele worked as a bachelor level social worker in long term care settings. Her responsibilities required that she have significant knowledge of health care financing systems to advise both administration and family members of insurance coverage and related financing issues.

Michele has been with Parent to Parent of NYS since 2008, working for the Family to Family Health Information Center, and then briefly as the statewide Director of Programs, before being named Executive Director in 2014. Michele is committed to ensuring that Parent to Parent of NYS reaches underserved families so that all families in NYS have access to quality, family-centered, and coordinated health and community-based services.

Michele completed the Maternal Child Health—Public Health Leadership Institute fellowship in May of 2014 and has been appointed to serve on both the Title V Maternal Child Health Block Grant and Developmental Disabilities Advisories Councils (DDAC), serving as Vice-Chair of the DDAC. She is Co-Chair of the DDAC’s Systems Committee and has been involved in the establishment of a Medical Taskforce within the DDAC’s Health and Wellness Committee. Michele has also served as a federal Title V Block Grant reviewer.

When her children were in school, Sharon also volunteered as a parent member for CPSE and CSE meetings. After her son transitioned from public education into day treatment, she often was asked by the agency social worker to talk with parents who were considering educational and/or residential placement. She has also volunteered to speak at agency board meetings and at local legislative events to advocate for both people with developmental disabilities and those who care for them. Sharon is also a graduate of Partners in Policymaking and a regular speaker at the Monroe County Crisis Intervention Training for law enforcement officers and first responders.

Outside of Parent to Parent, Sharon teaches college English and literature online. She has a BS in English and an MA in Literature from SUNY Brockport.

Julia has been a passionate advocate and involved with the developmental disability community since 2007, when her youngest child was diagnosed prenatally with Down Syndrome and a congenital heart defect. From her own experience, Julia knows how important it is for families to have resources and support as they navigate and face challenges that come with raising a child with a developmental disability and/ or special healthcare need.

As a Support Parent and in her current position she uses her experience as the mom of a teenage son with Down Syndrome (and congenital heart defect) to provide information, support, and guidance to parents and caregivers.

Julia is happy and excited to contribute to the work and mission of Parent to Parent.

Prior to Parent to Parent, Nancy spent the last thirty nine years of her professional career working in public education as a doctorate level school psychologist and a Committee on Special Education (CSE)/Committee on Preschool Special Education Chairperson. She has a strong desire to work with and support parents in their advocacy for their special needs children.

Her work in this field was recognized by College of St. Rose, School of Education and awarded her their first ever ‘Outstanding Community Leadership Service Award’ in the year 2019.

She is a graduate of the New York State Partners in Policymaking program offered through the NYS Developmental Disabilities Planning Council (DDPC). She has dedicated her career to advocating for inclusive education and community opportunities for students with disabilities. She has served on several statewide advisory committees, which includes serving three terms ( a total of nine years) on the Commissioner’s Advisory Panel for Special Education at the New York State Education Department. She currently serves as a parent member on Schenectady County Local Early Intervention Coordinating Council and is an active member on her school district’s SEPTA.

Her passion for this field comes from being a parent to four wonderful children, including a 23-year-old amazing young woman who happens to have Down syndrome as one of her attributes. Her family’s advocacy journey started when their daughter entered preschool. They faced many unexpected barriers and needed to learn the skills and strategies to work effectively with teachers, and service providers.

Parent to Parent of NYS is one of the organizations that they turned to for help. She has experienced, firsthand, the consistent high quality of service that Parent to Parent of NYS provides to a diverse group of parents and families.

As is the mission of Parent to Parent, she firmly believes that empowering parents with the tools, knowledge and support needed to navigate the Special Education system results in better outcomes for students and individuals with disabilities. Working as an Education Advocate gives her the opportunity to do that for which she is very grateful.

Dianne started to advocate for the children in foster care and the foster care families in the 1980’s becoming vice president of a New York State Foster and Adopted Parents Association and working with NYS Citizens’ Coalition for Children. At this time, she was appointed by Governor Mario Cuomo to represent New York State at the National Office of Child Abuse Conference in Washington DC as an adoption and foster care family advocate. Dianne became a trainer of the curriculum “Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting” (MAPP) for new case workers statewide as well as foster parents in the Capital Region. She helps develop foster and adoptive families training curriculum and videos for the Center for Development of Human Services out of SUNY Buffalo State.

In early 1990s, Dianne was named as the statewide adoption and foster care family member for the NYS Coordinated Children’s Service Initiative State Level Tier III (CCSI). This multi-agency approach was tasked to reduce out-of-home placements of children with emotional and developmental disabilities by creating locally coordinated systems of care. During the same time, Dianne was honored as a mental health child advocate of the year for Families Together Inc.

After giving testimony to a town hall meeting in Buffalo on FASD and foster care, Dianne was asked to apply for the NYS Research Foundation of Mental Hygiene at the NYS Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services who was implementing a sub-contract for SAMHSA on the Prevention of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). She became a certified FASD trainer through the Center for Disease Control and has been a national speaker and advocate for families who have loved ones with FASD. In 2005, Dianne received  the  New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services Commissioner’s Service Award for her work on FASD prevention from Acting Commissioner Shari Noonan. She also worked with Leigh Ann Davis, The National Arc, to develop SAFA, Self-Advocates for FASD In Action. Through development of initial training, trained adults with FASD and their support persons from around the country were asked to attend national conferences  to speak out for those with FASD.

Dianne joined the Capital Region office as a Regional Coordinator for Parent to Parent of NYS in October 2014. She works with all families dealing with systems of care for their loved ones who have developmental disabilities, outreach, webinars and helps individuals through the application process for waiver services. Dianne continues to work with NYS Department of Health, NYS Office for Children and Family Services, NYS Office for Addiction Services and Supports, NYS Department of Education and the NYS Office for People with Developmental Disabilities to promote systems collaboration for children in need of diagnosis and multiple service supports who have been identified as having been prenatally exposed to alcohol. She has developed a webinar to educate families and professionals for Parent to Parent of NYS and for the NYS Office for People with Developmental Disabilities on FASD. A statewide discussion group o FASD will begin in January 2022.

From being granted permission as a teen to coordinate youth groups and collaborate in school activities, what seemed only as fun experiences to Rocio, were in reality opportunities to learn from children with different needs and abilities. During high school, between working part time jobs in hospitality, assisting with interpretation and translation, soccer practices, school and babysitting in her spare times, Rocio realized many families were poorly underserved. After graduating high school, Rocio has continued her education by taking several courses in education, special needs, early childhood while working full time as a caregiver and volunteering during her free time. Rocio has been able to demonstrate her abilities in collaborating with many organizations by advocating for families from diverse backgrounds throughout different opportunities.

While expecting her firstborn, Rocio was confident with all she had learned during her prenatal classes. Nurturing and seeing her daughter go through every milestone as a baby was exciting until her daughter turned two years old. Rocio could sense something was different about her daughter. Although her concerns were shared and expressed with professionals and family, no one was able to really provide the right support to get the needed evaluations or a diagnosis.

As a parent of children with special needs, Rocio has used every tool in her personal experience to empower and advocate for more families who need assistance navigating from health care to getting referrals for better services. Participating in advocacy support groups, community boards, Developmental Disability councils, organizing events and activities for a diverse community, continuing education, switching careers to be an early childhood educator and being part of the LEND Parent Trainee program has been part of the gaining skill to continue engaging and serving families during work and volunteer time.

Working and serving families as a coordinator under the F2F HIC at Parent to Parent of New York State, Rocio can continue to provide support to families statewide. Her devotion is to continue helping families navigate through the proper channels with the understanding of a parent who can relate and share the sentiment parents face day by day with all the challenges that include being the parent and or caregiver of a child with disabilities, special needs and or who is medically fragile.