OPAL Offers Respite to Families with Special Needs

CARING MATTERS
Published Thursday January 10th, 2008
Appeared on page C8

Have you ever had one of those days when you just wish you could run away from everything? You can't wait for the work day to end, for the kids to go to bed, for that big project to finally be complete so you can get back to normal?

But, what if your entire life was scheduled around the needs and demands of a family member with special needs?

For most people, above normal stress levels are short term and fade into faint memories. For families who have a child with a physical or intellectual disability, their every day routines are very demanding. Families with special needs children are on call day and night -- forever. There are few relaxing, restful periods where sleeping in on Saturdays or an evening out with friends can happen.

However, Fredericton families are fortunate to have a program which offers families of children with physical and intellectual disabilities a respite or break.

The service is OPAL Family Services. It has been around since 1983 and are currently responsible for more than 8,500 hours of respite care to about 140 Fredericton and area families.

OPAL started in 1983, the brainchild of three local women who knew of a family with children requiring extensive special care. Clearly, this family could benefit not just from the sporadic break but regular, scheduled times when they could place the children in someone else's care, even for a few hours, and do many of the things we take for granted, such as a night out for dinner, an evening of movies and relaxation, entertaining friends.

The three women set out to find out what other needs might exist in the community and identified five families who could benefit from respite. In 1984, the group recruited volunteers, and so began the work of OPAL.

Mike Ross, the current executive director was one of the first to volunteer. That was more than 20 years ago, and he and his wife still do respite for OPAL.
OPAL not only screens and trains volunteers to go into homes, it also operates respite locations of suites and apartments where a private care worker can take the child for a weekend and give the parents time at home alone or with other children they may have.

OPAL offers a wide variety of respite services to families in Fredericton. They screen then match about 50 private care workers a year with families who need respite.

They are affiliated with the UNB Nursing and STU Social Work programs. They are responsible for a program called Best Buddies, a buddy is partnered with an OPAL client and exposed to social situations of interest to both of them. An adult social night is a weekly activity that sees adult OPAL clients go out to different experiences such as swimming or bowling.
OPAL partners with the city to offer day camp opportunities to children needing extra support in the camps. Opal also provides a summer recreation program for adults, the Senior Planning and Network Support program.

This year OPAL is starting a program, funded in part by the Fredericton Community Foundation which will put in place a plan for adult OPAL clients who may lose their parents. Research tells us this is the first generation of children with intellectual disabilities who will outlive their parents. That is certainly a challenge many families will face.

For more information on OPAL Family Services or to find out about their fundraising event, Night of 1,000 Smiles, contact them at 457-9520.

Cindy Sheppard is the executive director of the Fredericton Community Foundation. Her column profiling Fredericton's non-profit agencies appears Thursdays. Please send comments to letters@dailygleaner.com.