The theme of this page: Resources and Support! These are programs that can be helpful for parents in Rochester, either to gain support or to find resouces for children and families. They all offer free services:

Better Days Ahead: Bringing Hope to Children and Family
For every one of us, some days are full of sunshine and others are cloudy and gray. If you have a child with emotional and behavioral challenges, it sometimes seems like the sunny days have simply disappeared. When that happens, parents can turn to the Mental Health Association's Better Days Ahead Family Support Network for help. BDA is a family-run organization putting families together to support one another. Only someone that has lived with and loved a child like this knows what it is like. [From the Website]

SKIP Generations is a Hillside/ Crestwood program that runs out of the family resource center on Genesee Street. The program provides education and support groups as well as some limited mentoring for grandparents who are raising (or helping to raise) their grandchildren. Meetings for new participants in the program (which is free) are held on Thursdays from 11:30 - 1:30 p.m.
 
Ms. Linda James is the Program Coordinator and a grandparent caregiver herself. She and the other grandmothers serve as advocates for kinship care statewide. She is a wonderful resource for grandparents who have questions about their rights as caregivers. To learn more about the program, including a new group targeting grandfather's, or to speak with Ms. James, please call 436-0370 ext. 302.

Managing Autism Together Today (MATT) is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization that was founded in 2010 by my wife, Connie, and I, and named after our son, Matthew, who was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. After going through a very difficult time following the Autism diagnosis of our son, what that means, how it has affected our lives, and working our way though the system, we decided to go a step further to make this difficult time easier for others.   MATT is a volunteer organization focused on supporting parents, children, and families affected by Autism. MATT wants to make it easier for families to locate, obtain, and use the community resources available to their special needs children in the Rochester, New York area. We want to help create a local network of people that truly understand the unique nature of having children on the Autism Spectrum, and to use this network to help each other at every stage of our children's lives. [from the MATT website]