Families Supporting Families (FSF) was 'born from almost accidental contact between parents in specialist's waiting rooms, early intervention programs and in hospital wards when sitting beside our kids' beds', says its website.

Website Review: www.e-bility.com/fsf

The organisation has blossomed since its fortuitous birth in 2003 and is now a little-known goldmine of information and peer support for parents of kids with 'additional needs'.

The tips that FSF publish on e-bility.com cover the messy, practical side of disability support as well as information for empowerment, and they often hit the mark because they are from parents. The site's raison d'etre is that when it comes to caring, carers are the experts, and they are often family members. So FSF's original creed was 'to provide an opportunity for families with children with special needs to exchange ideas, information and experiences'.

"We quickly realised that we understood each other, that we could problem solve for each other purely based on first hand experiences, and in a way that works for our whole families including partners, siblings and our child with the disability," says the website.

Mission successful: FSF now has more than 100 member families living that vision through its Australia-wide online community and living encyclopaedia of carer knowledge, e-bility.com. The 'feel' of the website is low-key, friendly and informal. It definitely feels more like an online community centre than a newsroom or political bandwagon. FSF uses e-bility to advertise its regular 'coffee meetings' and family roll-a-walk-a-thon.

Visitors will get the most benefit from the website by using it to learn about and tap into the FSF network on the ground, especially if you live in the Hunter region. FSF holds regular meetings and social events, like the roll-and-walk-a-thon, advertised through the website and newsletter. The 'offline' experience is perhaps where the best gems are to be found, in projects like the 'Carer Café...an initiative of local families who...wanted a quick and easy way to meet and exchange information and enjoy some social time together'.

"These coffee mornings are very busy," the flyer says. "Veterans of the program use it to gather information from their committee member host"—that is, a member of the FSF committee with considerable disability-services nous.

"Café venues are selected for their accessibility. Children are welcome and thought goes into selection of cafes for the accessibility, ease of parking, access by public transport, prices, ambience and friendliness towards children."

Among the website's top online resources is the 40 page hands-on how-to guide, Operation Adaption. This gift of a 'wealth of knowledge and understanding' about caring was compiled by parents 'to share information on adaption across all areas of equipment, lifestyle, health and technology'.

"FSF asked members for their ideas on adapting everyday items to make them more accessible. Any idea, big or small, has been gladly accepted and lovingly produced here in our booklet."

The guide includes the sections like Where’s the loo? Personal Care, Are we there yet? Vehicles and Funding—Money money money, it’s not funny!

It is bursting with warmth and good humour, product recommendations and contact information for specialty suppliers of disability aids in NSW, including a dealer in second-hand home modification fittings for the thrifty—or mortgage-weary—carer.

You will also find information on funding and support programs you may be eligible for. However, it is the exposure to a vast range of useful products that is the guide's strongest feature.

Members of FSF also receive the bi-monthly Family Voice newsletter, which contains news from the little people and the niche-interest leads that carers need but the mainstream press just doesn't dig up. Parents and family members write in with their own stories and tips, like 'Cindy', who wrote in an April newsletter about a device to help a child with a physical disability hold a pack of cards, or a pragmatic peice in the same issue on obtaining insurance for an electric wheelchair.

The newsletter often publishes early notices of innovative and pilot programs supporting young people with disabilities or their families, whether you want to volunteer or enrol your child.

Families Supporting Families is worth a squiz, especially if you live in FSF's heartland, the Sydney–Hunter region.

Website Review: www.e-bility.com/fsf