Playbook for Engaging, Supporting, & Sustaining Caregiver Advocates
Caregivers of children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) provide essential voices to help shape policies that affect their children’s lives, however they often lack the support needed to advocate in the policy space. Supporting caregiver engagement in children’s policymaking can lead to policies designed by and for families, strengthen trust between families and government, and improve family wellbeing.
Children Now’s Playbook for Engaging, Supporting, & Sustaining Caregiver Advocates offers guidance to state agencies, health plans, and organizations on building respectful, accessible, and equitable spaces for caregivers to meaningfully partake in policymaking.
The recommendations outlined in the Playbook are grounded in the lived experiences of caregivers of CYSHCN who are members of Children Now’s Caregiver Advocacy Circle, a group designed to provide resources and support to caregivers advocating at the state level.
