WELCOME TO THE BLIND CHILDREN’S FUND (BCF) WEBSITE

We exist to help parents of blind children to find the resources they need to raise confident, competent, independent adults. We are a non-profit Michigan-based organization that has existed for more than 35 years and recently has been revitalized to meet the needs of a changing world.

We understand that your child’s diagnosis of blindness or visual impairment can be frightening, sad, and challenging. We also understand that life can be tough if your child seems to progress differently than other children or you feel that you are kept very busy simply explaining the visual world to him or her. But we encourage you to take hope. Blindness and serious visual impairment need not be the end of the world or mean a dependent, sedentary life for your child. Many adults who are blind or have serious visual impairments go to work, shop independently, cook for their families, own and maintain homes, and engage with their communities. They do these things because they have had education, training and support when they were young. This is how you can make a profound difference in your child’s future.

Blind Children’s Fund (BCF) has resources that can encourage and empower you and your child. Our website has been designed as a clearinghouse. We have some “how-to” articles that we have developed and lots of resources (such as various websites and additional resources) that you can easily find with one-click. We have also purposefully developed the website to help lead you (as a parent or a general education teacher with a visually impaired child in your classroom) to understand the needs, challenges, and, yes, the rewards of teaching a visually impaired child. To navigate our website, use the pull down menus to find lots of information.

We also have consultants with listening ears and blindness-related backgrounds. Our consultants are here to help you, share with you, and to learn from you.

We hope you will look over our website and take advantage of the information we have gathered.

We also hope parents will communicate with each other by sharing their stories and their ideas with us. The BCF staff is excited to hear from you via email, letter, Facebook, or by telephone (see our “Contact Us” page).

If you have information, ideas, stories, or knowledge of other Internet resources that you believe would help other parents, please send them our way.