PACER Center
952-838-9000
Champions for Children with Disabilities
Knowledge Center
TATRA Navigation Menu
Family Network is Important in Job Success of People with Disabilities
excerpt from Point of Departure, Vol. 2, No. 2...PACER Center...Fall, 1996
Family involvement is the number one factor helping people with disabilities find and keep their jobs. Studies demonstrate that family members play crucial roles not only in career preparation, but in actual job search efforts.
The kind of support families often provide are:
- ideas about the type of work an individual likes and is able to do,
- suggestions about where to look for a job, and
- assistance with transportation.
Yet only a small percentage of families (25 percent) were perceived as being involved in the job search of their family member with a disability, according to a recent study. The Center on Promoting Employment: Rehabilitation Research and Training Center attempted to gain a better understanding of effective job search practices in its survey of staff and consumers from a national sample of community rehabilitation providers and independent living centers.
The study compared five different job search strategies and found that a "networking" approach to job hunting was the most successful in producing "quality employment outcomes."
Not only was personal networking the fastest and most effective job search strategy, but when compared to other strategies, the networking approach typically resulted in a higher hourly wage and greater number of hours worked. These results correspond to results from other studies.
Young adults with and without disabilities find that using their personal network of relatives, friends, or neighbors is the most effective way to find a job. Individuals with disabilities may need assistance in developing networks and using networking strategies since they traditionally have had smaller social and personal networks to draw upon for job leads.
Based on this information, researchers suggest that community rehabilitation providers might:
- emphasize a networking approach that utilizes the personal network of an individual with disability,
- use Person centered Planning to develop an individual's social network,
- train consumers to use and maintain their networks, and
- utilize the staff member's professional networks.
The contributions of family members are important to stress because many professionals still feel unprepared to work collaboratively with families. Many state rehabilitation systems have yet to develop processes that incorporate family involvement.
These studies confirm the concrete value of family participation in the transition and vocational rehabilitation process. Families can help to:
- identify a family member's interests and strengths,
- streamline the assessment process by providing existing documentation,
- collaborate in creative problem solving, and
- participate in their family member's job search by helping to connect him or her with potential employers through their personal network.
For more information:
The Center for Promoting Employment:
RRTC is a project of the Institute for Community Inclusion.
For further information on its study, contact:
Sheila Fesko
Institute for Community Inclusion
300 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
717/355-6271
617/355-6956 TTY
ici@a1.tch.harvard.edu
PACER's site offers many PDF files for download, which require 
