FANE: A Mexican Foundation to Support Children with Disabilities and Their Families

The Foundation to Support Children with Special Needs (FANE, acronym in Spanish) is a non-profit agency founded in 1994 in Tijuana, México that specializes in serving children and youth with special needs, whether those needs are related to a disability or not, as well as providing the information, advice, and training that parents, siblings, and grandparents need to have to help with the different stages of life as members of a “family with different needs”. FANE offers an attention model that is centered on the family. The Foundation offers a variety of services, including evaluation, diagnostics, and treatment. FANE also provides a variety of therapies, such as individual and family therapy, speech therapy, recreational therapy, neuro-physiotherapy, and psychiatric therapy. The Foundation provides a variety of workshops for the family, such as art workshops, workshops for siblings, workshops on sexuality for parents of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and more. The Foundation also provides safe spaces for spiritual reflection for parents, groups of emotional and social support for children and adolescents, parties, trips, camps, among others. Finally, FANE provides a calendar of daily, weekly, and monthly activities.