The Family Journey

A map for every stage of your family's journey.

From the first diagnosis to planning for the years ahead. Tell us your state and where you are today. We will show you what to do next and who can help near you.

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A mother laughs with her teenage son on a park bench.

Welcome to Holland

In her 1987 essay Welcome to Holland, Emily Perl Kingsley compared learning your child has a disability to planning a trip to Italy and landing in Holland instead. Not a worse place. A different one, with its own beauty, and nobody handed you a map. This page is that map.

Read about the essay. Every family's trip is different, and some parents describe theirs in other words. All of them are welcome here.

The journey

Eight stages most families pass through

Pick a stage to see what is happening, what to do now, what to start planning, and who can help in your state.

    Across every stage

    The things that sit on top of everything else

    Money, legal decisions, and long waiting lists do not wait for the right stage. Start these early, and come back to them often.

    Why we built this

    For most families, caregiving gets lighter over time. For families like yours, it gets heavier.

    The Texas Disability Project listened to tens of thousands of families, people with disabilities, and providers. Researchers at Feedback found the same pattern again and again: the work of caring grows as a child grows, and so does the worry about the future.

    47,278posts and comments from Texans, studied for the project
    24 to 40hours a week of unpaid care families give
    78%of conversations were about systems failing families
    Caregiving over a lifetime For families without a disability, caregiving is highest in early childhood and falls as children grow. For families where a member has a disability, it starts high and keeps rising through school, the transition to adulthood, and the parents' aging years. Early childhoodSchool yearsYoung adultAging parents Caregiving intensity DiagnosisEarly interventionIEP battlesBurnout Services cliffAdult waitlistsEstate plansWho cares for themafter I am gone? Families with a disabilityFamilies without a disability
    Illustration based on Feedback's "Temporal Architecture of Caregiving" for the Texas Disability Project (2025). The lines show the pattern families described, not measured values.

    Know a great guardianship attorney, parent group, or advocate?

    We are still building listings for some of the help families need most. Add an organization or professional in your community, and we will verify it and put it in front of the next family.

    Add a listing