Our team includes:
Amber Decker, Senior Family Peer Advocate, excels at analyzing case-specific situations and working with families to implement solutions. After 3 years of serving as a freelance advocate, Amber started Special Support Services in 2017 with the aim of providing direct 1:1 peer and advocacy support for parents of children with disabilities. Previously, she spent 8 years preparing medical, human resources, and judicial reports, organizing evidence and records for administrative hearings, fair hearings, and reviews as well as mentoring dozens of parents of students with disabilities.
In addition to years of doing extensive research on educational advocacy, she is a New York Certified Peer Specialist – Provisional (NYCPS-P-2812). She has completed the NY State Family Peer Advocate Credential process from Families Together in NY State; the NY Partners in Policymaking program; is a Support Parent with Parent to Parents, and is a certified IEP Parent Member. Among her many affiliations, she was previously a member of the Parent Advisory Panel for New York Legal Services, assisting in policy recommendations for crisis and de-escalation in public schools. She is a coalition member of Medicaid Matters New York, Steering Group; on the Advisory Council for the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness (PAIMI); Is a council member of the NYC Regional Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders Advisory Council and a past elected member of the Citywide Council on Special Education for the New York City Department of Education. She was recently appointed by Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins to the Special Advisory Panel for Medicaid Managed Care (MMCARP).
She is a graduate of Hunter College and the NYC public school system. A native New Yorker, she lives in Brooklyn with her son and their dog, Andy.
Rachel Ford, Advocate, offers guidance in designing special education supports to help students with disabilities, particularly those who identify as neurodivergent. She is especially well-versed in the NYC AS Programs application process and program offerings. She has received Advanced Advocate training in “Representing Parents at Impartial Hearings” through COPAA and participated in the Wrightslaw special education law and advocacy program. She is a certified IEP Parent Member and also serves as a Surrogate Parent. She strongly believes in community organizing and has started many parent action groups at schools throughout the city. She also runs the unofficial citywide listserv for parents in the AS Nest and Horizon programs. Among her many affiliations, she is a member of COPAA as well as advocacy group 2eNYC, through which she helped draft and publish the first-ever survey of public and private school parents, the 2018 2eNYC Parent Survey and Results.
Prior to joining Special Support Services in 2018, she spent 20 years honing her negotiation skills in nonprofit management, most notably holding senior positions at Creative Time, HERE Arts Center, and the Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards.
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