I live and work in the San Francisco Bay Area as a Certified Family Peer Specialist. I am the mother of 4 sons- 2 typical, 1 with ASD and mental health challenges, and 1 who experienced a life altering illness at 10 weeks of age, leaving him with a TBI, a slew of medical conditions, cognitive impairment, intellectual impairment, and fragility. He died in 2013 at age 11. My older sons are now adults. I have navigated the Social Services systems, Special Education system, Medi-Cal, Child Welfare system, Criminal Justice system, Family Court system, Children's Medical systems, Children's Protective Services, and more. I have a High School Diploma. I didn't start out knowing what I needed to know, I learned along the way. Took classes I needed to take, read books in the library, stayed up late learning as much as I had to, I had to learn to become my children's Advocate, I had to become my own Advocate in order to be part of the system serving my family. This is my journey.