TFS Connection VOLUME XVI

Ralph Kennedy was awarded the Teaching-Family Association's highest honor this year at the Annual Conference in Daytona Beach, Florida - The Montrose Wolf Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Teaching-Family Model.

Ralph Kennedy wasn’t always a pioneer in the field of serving adults with intellectual disabilities. He calls this his 3rd career. It began when he and his wife now of 52 years, Tracy, had their 3rd daughter, Marla. Although born “perfectly normal,” she developed infantile spasms at just 4 and 1/2 months old. As with any loving parents, supporting her unique needs became a way of life. Marla lived at home until she was 7 years old. At that time, Ralph and Tracy made the difficult decision to place her in residential care that could provide specialized supports. Thus began years of experience with the different service delivery models of care Tennessee had to offer.

In 1995, the state of Tennessee was sued by the Department of Justice with an intended outcome of institutional closures across the state. Within the next year or two, he became President of the Parent/Guardian Association (PGA) at Clover Bottom Developmental Center where Marla resided during that time. Upon attending judicial hearings where statistics were presented revealing 60% and higher instances of abuse and neglect for those persons who had left the developmental centers and moved into the community, Ralph knew he had to do something. He and the wonderful attorneys representing the PGA, were successful intervening as plaintiffs in the lawsuit representing the interests of the families who had loved ones in the centers. Due to his advocacy, the Centers for Medicaid Services (CMS) placed a moratorium on the state, withdrawing federal funds, forcing them to slow transitions and develop a community residential system better prepared to serve those who required an institutional level of care. It was due to this need, and a successful tour of a program in Kansas, implementing a modified version of the Teaching-Family Model, that the proposal of Tennessee Family Solutions was born. Created in 1999, its mission – to serve those who would otherwise require an institutional level of care. TFS opened its first home in 2001 implementing the tenets of the TFM. In 2008, he made connection with the TFA and started the process of becoming an accredited agency.

TFS became an accredited sponsor agency in 2011. Ralph Kennedy is a pioneer in bringing the Teaching-Family Model of care to Tennessee to support a unique population. While most agencies within the Association support adjudicated youth, Ralph recognized the opportunity to adapt the Model to meet the needs of adults with intellectual disabilities and has done so successfully to the benefit of hundreds of individuals.