Building a Parent Support Network for Families of Gifted Children

Newenka DuMont

Chicago Gifted Community Center

6 p.m.

Parenting is a social experience. When you are raising unusual children, it helps to have a social circle that includes other parents who are facing the same challenges you are, or better yet parents who have faced the challenges that you are going to face.  How do you find a support group or build your own?

Newenka has two gifted daughters who are now in college and beyond! She became active in the gifted community in order to be a better advocate for her girls and now looks for opportunities to pass on what she has learned. She is the current president of the Chicago Gifted Community Center, she is working with the Illinois Association for Gifted Children (IAGC) as a member of their board promoting parent inclusion, and she is the Illinois liaison for the Social and Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG) organization and a trained SENG Parent Group facilitator. Before children, Newenka was an associate partner with Accenture focusing on the technical and change management needs of her telecommunications clients.