Unique Families Program®

Family to Family Support Network created the Unique Families Program (UFP) in 2015. Our mission is to transform the healthcare culture and services to be unique family-sensitive.

Unique families are any family who needs extra attention during their hospital stay and a"warm hand-off" to community resources.

The UFP utilizes a proven, best-practice curriculum that was developed with respectful, neutral, and compassionate care as its foundation.

The comprehensive curriculum is strategically designed to enrich the daily work of healthcare professionals, empower them with the confidence to serve all patients, and equip them with tools that reinforce and support the knowledge learned.

Empowering healthcare professionals to serve ALL patients with respectful, neutral, and compassionate care.

Transforming healthcare culture, services, and resources to be UNIQUE FAMILY-SENSITIVE.

Improving the patient experience and quality of care through a UNIQUE FAMILY-CENTERED approach.

The UFP curriculum is taught through the lens of multiple patient populations with varying needs and circumstances that may impact the care they receive.

The UFP incorporates and encourages ongoing self-reflection, an explorations of one's heart, and the teaching of soft skills that will create a respectful, neutral, and compassionate care environment for ALL families. 

In our work towards healthcare equity, it is imperative to recognize the intersectionality of all marginalized groups. The curriculum extends the teachings of racism, implicit bias, and trauma-informed care to vulnerable unique family populations: adoption and surrogacy arrangements, incarcerated patients, those struggling with Substance Use Disorder, and the LGBTQIA+ community. False perceptions and personal biases can affect unique family patient care. 

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) can create barriers to accessing and providing adequate patient care. Trauma, including racial trauma, can negatively influence outcomes if not included as a patient assessment factor. 

Implicit biases and racial inequities affect patient care and can decimate health outcomes. Racism is multi-dimensional and complex. The solution to countering racism begins with awareness around how racism manifests itself and perpetuates institutional distrust and healthcare avoidance.