At AAFS, Advocacy Always Wins!

A middle-class Jordanian family, were living their day-to- day when, the mother asked her 10 year old
son to go get bread and some groceries from across the street. The kid took the same street every
day he would normally, and in a split second the kid’s life changed. A motorcyclist had crashed into
the kid because he didn’t see him. The accident left the child with severe brain damage, resulting in a
left-side paralysis.
The brain damage, had caused the child to begin withdrawing from his surroundings, family, and of
course his school was no longer able to accommodate his special needs. His mother couldn’t just
watch her young boy dwindle away, so as any good mother would do, she advocated for her son to
start a new life in the United States. She knew that in the U.S there would be options, and he would
be able to receive the proper support and care, especially for his special needs.
Can you imagine coming to a new country unable to speak the language, having no family, and not
even any resources? This mother, we worked with, continued to look for resources, until she was
able to get her son enrolled in a disability school. Then the school referred her to AAFS to help her
navigate the healthcare system. AAFS was the light she needed to get the proper support for her
son.
AAFS also continued to communicate with the school, in order to collect as much information as
we can about the child’s current health status. Our staff assisted the mother in applying for health
insurance and making sure that her son would receive the proper services. Due to our advocacy and
follow-up the family received the medical card in an expedited fashion. Once he received the
medical card we began researching appropriate doctors and therapists (Arab) who would be able to
finally give the child a proper health assessment, since he has not seen a doctor since the accident, in
2014.
After a lot of research and outreach, the child has a scheduled appointment and will now be seeing a
neurologist and a therapist who will monitor his condition.
On another level, we welcomed the family to the community, introduced the mother and her son to
local resources, like the library, and encouraged them to get involved in the community and to meet
new people! The mother came to AAFS very frantic, and her son was very depressed. But now, she
is very relieved for all the support AAFS provided her, and her son is very happy knowing that there
is hope for a better life for him!