Hello and welcome to the Washington state CPN page. My name is Dena Kirchoff and I am the founder of the Cerebral Palsy Network and your regional director for Washington State. My past experiences have been being a part of the Special Needs PTA in Shelton, Wash. I have also been involved in the Inner Agency Counsel of Special Need Parents. Here at CPN, I serve on many of our different committees. I am an advocate in my community and in Olympia dealing with school issues for children and adult issues as well. I also have helped many people online in the advocate capacity. I created the Cerebral Palsy Network out of my frustration of the lack of services and support available in my community in 1996. Now we are a group world wide. This year we raised funds to see the vision of CPN being a non profit corporation here in Washington state. I have experienced and am a survivor of caregivers burnout something that I never ever dreamed could happen to me, I spend my time educating other caregivers and parents of the reality of burnout and strong tools to prevent this from happening. I am also working with difficult cases with Child Protective services or Adult Protective services as an issue. I am aware of resources in my community and if I don't know of one I will happily search for one. It is important to me that all individuals have the right to life, that is full of choices and dreams. To have someone who believes in them when the world feels like it is against them. Support is the #1 key to success to a parent and an individual with disabilities.

My goal for the Washington state regional page is to provide you with tools that you can use in your everyday life. I also want to provide you with resources that will help you know the laws of Washington state and how things like IDEA, 504's, rehab act etc can work for you. I have posted a section at our Forums about happenings around Washington state be it training or support networks. I will also provide you with resources to find handicap accessible places in Washington state.

We are beginning a new accountability section for therapy and doctors across the world. Giving them a "parent" score that will rate their services based on a "professional standard of expectation" Look for this to be posted here at CPN very soon.