ADVOCATES FOR PEOPLE WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

THE ORIGIN OF GROW
In the winter of 1981, a few Westchester County families who had children with developmental disabilities living in community residences, talked about the need to get together with other families with children in the same situation. The reason for this need was the fact that these parents often had difficulty as individuals in dealing with the agencies that operated their children's residences.
  At the first meeting, which consisted of about ten families, they decided that an organization of parents and guardians not under the aegis of any provider agency was needed. Provider agencies had their own agenda; funding, staffing, meeting government regulations, and a cooperative relationship with state officials. This new organization would have but one thing on its agenda, the best possible life for people with developmental disabilities in Westchester. Firm believers in the community concept, these families had learned that their children fare best living with their peers with the help of a supportive staff in a group home in Westchester County.
  Early on, this original group decided to include families whose children were not yet in group homes but would need them in the future. What was quickly discovered was that there was an urgent, immediate need by many families. So what this new organization, first called Parents, Guardians and Advocates of Group Residents of Westchester, decided to do was to have two goals. The first was to ensure quality care in the existing group homes. The second was to work for the expansionof the community residence program in Westchester County.

Now, almost twenty years later, GROW has 1800 families on its rolls.

WE ARE PARENTS, FRIENDS,& ADVOCATES IN SUPPORT OF QUALITY GROUP HOMES FOR PERSONS WHO HAVE DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES