CYSHCN
The Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN) Program
The Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN) program is a referral and resource-based initiative aimed at providing support and information to children, youth, and families aged 0-21. CYSHCN aims to empower families in facing the challenges of caring for a child with special health care needs by facilitating access to educational services, disability resources, physician contacts, recreational information, and community resources, among others.
The CYSHCN program primarily serves children and youth with chronic illnesses or conditions that require extra health care and support services. Some of these disabilities and conditions include:
- Developmental or intellectual
- Physical, hearing, or vision impairments
- Behavioral or emotional challenges
Some of these conditions may include but not limited to ADHD, allergies, anxiety, arthritis/joint problems, asthma, autism or autism spectrum disorder, behavioral/conduct problem, blood disorders, Cerebral Palsy, Cystic Fibrosis, depression, developmental delay, diabetes, Down syndrome, epilepsy/seizure disorder, genetic or inherited condition, head injury, hearing problem, heart problem, intellectual disability, learning difficulty, migraines, other mental health condition, muscular dystrophy, sickle cell anemia, speech or language disorder, substance use disorder, Tourette syndrome, and vision problems.
For more information, please call: 516-227-8683
Funded by the New York State Department of Health using Federal Health Resources and Services Administration Title V funding.
Resources, Agencies, Acronyms, Transitions, etc.
Growing Up Healthy Hotline
You can call the Growing Up Healthy Hotline to learn to learn about resources for health care, immunizations, nutrition and other health and human services. The hotline provides information and referrals 24 hours/day, seven days a week in English, Spanish and other languages. Call 1-800-522-5006, or through TTY 1-800-655-1789.
HEARS Family Line
The Office of Children and Family Services’ Help, Empower, Advocate, Reassure and Support (HEARS) family line supports parents and families by providing resources and referrals to a variety of services. Caring representatives guide families to services including food, clothing, housing, medical and behavioral health care services, parenting education and childcare. Representatives are available at 1-888-55HEARS (1-888-554-3277) Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Please visit https://ocfs.ny.gov/programs/cwcs/hears.php.
New York State Parent Guide
For information on the NYS Parent Guide please visit https://www.nysparentguide.org/. This is your guide, the story of the first five years of your parenting journey. Whether you are the mother or father (through birth, adoption, or foster care), a grandparent, partner, family friend, aunt or uncle with parenting responsibilities, what you say and do in your role as a parent matters.
New York State Parent Portal
For information on the NYS Parent Portal please visit https://www.nysparenting.org/. This online resource for mothers or fathers (through birth, adoption, or foster care), grandparents, partners, family friends, aunts or uncles includes information about the first 5 years of a baby’s life, where you can find child care and family support and understanding how to access services.
The CYSHCN program is administered by the Bureau of Child Health in the Division of Family Health. For questions, contact the Bureau of Child Health at (518) 474-1961 or CYSHCN@health.ny.gov.