Family Resource Navigators

Like many staff at FRN, Eileen did not plan on working with families but is glad that life brought her to FRN. Eileen intended to be a college professor in international politics, and was on a fellowship in the Bay area when she had her first child (she is originally from New York, which is why she talks so fast!). It became clear when her son was very young that he had a disability, and Eileen and her husband made the choice that she would stay home with him for a few years to help get him to his doctors’ appointments and therapies. Happily, a younger sister arrived during that time – bringing more laughter and chaos to their small family. Eileen was a stay at home mom, but she found herself going more and more into advocacy for her child and other children in the community. One day she gave up the idea of returning to the academic world, and started to work as an advocate. She worked at DREDF as a special education advocate answering IEP questions, as a community advocate training county workers supporting children in the dependency system and for comm