The Children’s Resource Center-South, housed in the Waisman Center University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD), is dedicated to supporting families with children and youth with special health care needs or disabilities and the providers who serve them. Specialists at the center help families and providers get answers, find services, connect with community resources, provide training, and support people through their journey.
The Children’s Resource Center-South, housed in the Waisman Center University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD), is dedicated to supporting families with children and youth with special health care needs or disabilities and the providers who serve them. Specialists at the center help families and providers get answers, find services, connect with community resources, provide training, and support people through their journey. They are a guide to help individuals navigate the system of care around children and youth with special health care needs.
The Children’s Resource Center-South was formerly known as the Southern Regional Center, and rebranded in fall of 2023. It is one of 5 serving families across the state of Wisconsin.
“The desire for people and family members with disabilities to be fully included in society means that they have to access the services that are available, which means they have to know about the services that are available to them,” says Tim Markle, MA, MA/CS, director of the Children’s Resource Center-South.
Children's resource staff at the center take calls every day from primary care physicians, school staff, grandparents, parents, or caregivers of kids with any kind of special health care need. This can include mental health, intellectual or developmental disabilities, or physical need. “The heart of what we do is meet parents where they're at. Really try to hear what their questions are, and provide support and good, accurate information, and to really help them figure out their next best step,” says Amy Lyle, MSSW, APSW, children's resource guide at the Children’s Resource Center-South.
The Children’s Resource Center-South has also hired a bilingual children's resource guide to expand their reach and make their services more accessible to Spanish-speaking families in Wisconsin.
With all of these resources, the goal is to provide families with valuable tools to learn how to explore the new, often difficult to navigate, world of disabilities, health care, and more. At minimum, says Lyle, it’s about making people feel “like somebody's walking alongside them and helping to keep them moving forward.”
