MetLife has completed the first phase of updating MetDESK, the company's Web site for families with special needs children.

Met's Division of Estate Planning for Special Kids (DESK) now supplies up-to-date information on legislative issues that affect the special needs community on both the local and national level, according to MetDESK manager David Harmon. According to Harmon, this information is crucial for families trying to plan for their children's long-term financial needs in order to retain their eligibility for federal benefit programs such as Medicaid and Social Security.

The Web site also contains a new "virtual dictionary," a glossary of special needs terms and links that parents can use to learn more about topics such as special needs trusts and living wills.

Harmon says MetDESK, founded in 1998, is more than a marketing tool for MetLife's insurance products. "The enhanced site is also an educational tool that provides resources and information about the concerns and issues families with special needs children face everyday," says Harmon, who is also the father of child with special needs.

Updates planned for the future include the addition of a Web-based tool that will allow parents, or other individuals caring for a special needs child, to use their computers to register for special needs workshops.

MetLife Financial Services is the 2000 winner of the National Business & Disability Council's Valued Customer Silver Award, which recognizes the company's role in responding to the special needs of families of children or dependents with disabilities. Additionally, MetLife was a corporate sponsor of the first annual World Congress & Exposition on Disabilities, held in November 2000, in Atlanta, Georgia.