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Family Council Center

Family members in a nursing home can join together to form a united consumer voice which can communicate concerns to facility administrators and work for resolutions and improvements by forming a family council. Family councils can play a crucial role in voicing concerns, requesting improvements, supporting new family members and residents, and supporting facility efforts to make care and life in the facility the best it can be.

Join and support the family council at your loved one's facility! If no family council exists, join with other family members to form one.

This family council center contains factsheets and other materials related to family council creation, maintenance, rights under federal law and advocacy. It also has information about family council grants, networking opportunities, other ways to get involved in long-term care advocacy and additional resources.

Family Council Information

Below are materials to assist you to start and maintain your family council:

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Family Council Rights and Federal Laws & Regulations

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Family Council Exchange

The Family Council Exchange provides family councils across the country with sample bylaws, minutes, agendas, fliers, newsletters and other council materials, so that the documents and ideas might be helpful to other councils in their daily advocacy work.

The materials provided in the Family Council Exchange have been provided to Consumer Voice by councils across the country, along with permission to post the materials. The posting of these materials is not to be construed as an endorsement by Consumer Voice of the content of any of these materials, nor does Consumer Voice condone or take any responsibility for the content and/or the accuracy of the information in the materials.

Does your council have materials you’d like to share in the Exchange? E-mail them to info@theconsumervoice.org. Please be sure to put Family Council Exchange in the subject line of your e-mail.

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Virginia Family Council Grants and Other Opportunities

The Consumer Voice has several current family council initiatives related to family members and family councils.

If you are part of an existing family council in Virginia or want to start a council, click here to learn more about applying for a family council grant.

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Learn and Take Action!

In addition to forming or joining a family council, there are numerous other ways to get involved in efforts to improve long-term care in your area, and across the U.S.!

  • Join the Consumer Voice Action Network

    • As a member of the Action Network, you will receive breaking news, action steps, newsletters and opportunities for YOU to take action regarding national and state policy developments in long-term care.  We will give you the tools you need to make your advocacy easier, like the ability to contact your members of Congress (and other elected officials) directly through our website or issue a letter to the editor.

  • Visit Consumer Voice's Policy Section

    • Access policy tools and information.

    • Learn about ways to get involved in advocacy.

  • Contact the long-term care ombudsman program in your state

  • Also visit the Pioneer Network's website.

  • Nursing Home Compare: This is a tool on the Medicare website that displays quality measure data, deficiencies and other information about nursing homes. It is organized by state and county to help you search for facilities near you or anywhere in the country. 

  • Participate in the Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes Campaign

  • View the Consumer Voice's Resident-Directed Care or "Culture Change" information about the grassroots movement to transform the culture of aging in America.

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Additional Resources

  • View additional resources (organizations and printed materials) for information for Family Councils.

  • Consumer Voice's Giving Voice to Quality project

    • The project trained nursing home residents and their families nationwide through:a series of six teleconference seminars during 2006; a web-based consumer education center and the development and electronic distribution of materials to seminar participants. Calls are available on CD for purchase, and address the following topics: Resident-Directed Care Planning; Restraint-Free Nursing Home Care; Residents' Rights; Communication; Eating with Dignity; Incontinence and Quality Care.

  • Technical Assistance Brief: Family Council Recognition in Long-Term Care Facilities: Family members in a nursing home can join together to form a united consumer voice which can communicate concerns to facility administrators and work for resolutions and improvements by forming a family council. Family councils can play a crucial role in voicing concerns, requesting improvements, supporting new family members and residents, and supporting facility efforts to make care and life in the facility the best it can be.  Facilities are required by law to listen to the views and act upon the grievances and recommendations of residents and families concerning proposed policy and operational decisions affecting resident care and life in the facility.

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Looking for information about Resident Councils? Visit our Resident Council Center.

 

* Some of the information on this webpage was developed as part of a project funded by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene - Office of Health Care Quality (a five-year project to develop and strengthen family councils in MD). Materials gathered from family councils and citizen advocacy groups are included on this site. You can download the items to use in your family council work. If you would like to share family councils materials with us, and possibly other councils across the country, please send them to info@theconsumervoice.org.