About Us > History

Family Voices of Minnesota is part of a network of families and friends of children and youth with complex health care needs or disabilities around the nation.  

In the early 1990’s , during the health care reform discussions of the Clinton administration, a group of families of children and youth with special health care needs realized that no one was speaking up for the special concerns of  their children.  These families contacted other parents they knew around the nation.  The families responded enthusiastically and there was an immediate ground swell of support to advocate for better health care for their children.  Family Voices was born.

Today, the national network is thriving and numbers thousands of active families and professionals who can respond quickly and advocate for children and youth with special health care needs. 

Minnesota was one of the first Family Voices organizations in the nation to respond to this first call.   Family Voices of Minnesota began in 1994 as a grass roots network of families of children and youth with special health care needs for the purpose of sharing health program and policy information. 

Today, Family Voices of Minnesota continues its work to assist parents of children and youth with special health care needs advocate for their child, participate in program development, implementation and evaluation and share their expertise in the formation of policies affecting children and youth with special health care needs.  In addition, Family Voices of Minnesota connects families with one another and provides families information to secure and utilize needed services for their children and youth.

Family Voices of Minnesota is a 501c3 non-profit organization and is the state affiliate organization of Family Voices National.