The Forever Parenting Project

The hope:

You don’t have to choose between caring for your adult child and living a fulfilling life. When your child with a serious disability leaves high school, you step into a different world. Many parents call this phase “the cliff”—and for good reason. You’re falling into the unknown.

Some of you saw it coming. Others found yourselves tumbling over that cliff just as you thought your child was launching into independence. Or after they had launched. Whatever brought you here, you face a stark reality: supporting your adult child while navigating systems you don’t fully understand, haunted by the worry that you have somehow failed as a parent and now you are doing it wrong.

Meanwhile, you’re getting older. You don’t have the energy you once had, and you’re worried about a future when you can no longer provide care. Your friends—whose children launched successfully—are discovering new passions and exploring their freedom. As the weight of lifelong caregiving settles in, it’s crushing to think you may never experience the growth and possibility that other parents take for granted.

But what if there’s another way?

You can create a fulfilling life for yourself, your child, and your family—even when that life looks nothing like what you originally envisioned. In this book, Dr. Sarah Wayland—a research psychologist and mother of two adults with disabilities—shows you how to plan for your child’s future while building a life you can embrace today.

To do this, I need your help!

I’m hosting a series of focus groups — in person in the Washington DC area and on Zoom — with caregivers, family members, disabled people, and support professionals. I want to know what you would want from a book on Forever Parenting.

If you are interested in helping me to help other caregivers of adults with disabilities who will need to be supported for the foreseeable future (and perhaps forever) please register for one of our focus groups in December.

Focus groups in December

• Where?
  DC Peers Community Space
  4709 Wisconsin Ave NW
  Washington DC 20016
• When?
  Sunday, December 7th – 1:00 – 3:00pm

• Where? Zoom link provided once registered
• When? (all times EST (New York))
  • Tuesday, December 9th – 8:00 – 9:30am
  • Wednesday, December 10th – noon – 1:30pm
  • Friday, December 12th – 6:00 to 7:30 pm, OR
  • Sunday, December 14th – 1:00 to 2:30pm

Or send an email to [email protected] and let me know your availability.