Foster Care Training

A Better Way, Inc. is dedicated to providing the highest quality services to children in, or at risk of entering, foster care and their families with the goal of establishing loving and lasting relationships. As a 501(c)3, not-for-profit children and family service agency, we support most major Bay Area counties with services such as training, parent advocacy, therapeutic visitation, pre and post adoption, permanency support, Foster-Adoption, and family strengthening. A Better Way, Inc. empowers children and families to develop the insights, life skills, and permanent relationships that promote their social, emotional, educational and economic well-being

Aldea Children & Family Services improves people’s mental health so they can strengthen their relationships and become engaged in the community. Through critical mental health, treatment foster care and adoption, and support services, Aldea helps more than 3,900 people annually in Napa and Solano counties who face obstacles to accessing and receiving effective treatment. We enable children to begin to heal from past trauma, families to build healthy relationships and adults with developmental disabilities to remain independent. By empowering people to achieve emotional wellness before their challenges become more entrenched and difficult treat, Aldea increases the safety and wellness of the community for all of us.

Alternative Family Services (AFS) is a foster, adoptions and mental health agency committed to fostering nurturing family environments within communities for children in need. AFS has been creating safe, permanent connections for foster children and youth in the Bay Area since 1978. AFS services focus on building sustainable relationships for children and youths in and out of foster care through supporting families at risk; creating permanency options for all foster children; providing mental health and other support to children, youth and their families; preparing foster youth for adult independent living; and responding to needs in the community as they arise.

Catholic Charities was founded in 1907. Rooted in our faith traditions of charity and justice, Catholic Charities supports families and youth through social services and opportunities for healthy growth and development. Since its humble beginnings as a refuge for orphans from the California gold rush to continuing its role at the forefront of social services in California, St. Vincent’s School for Boys has been providing care, safety, and a space for healing for children and families since 1855. St. Vincent’s School for Boys continues this mission through high quality foster youth services provided at our licensed STRTP; services include 24 hour residential care, recreation and community-based programs, wraparound services, equestrian therapy, educational supports, and clinical services.

Chabot College FKCE provides training to individuals who are or are in the process of becoming resource parents to children in foster and kinship care in Alameda County. We offer pre-approval training to those in the process of becoming resource parents. We offer post-training to approved resource parents who are fulfilling training hours and want to strengthen their parenting skills. We also offer the CARI (Community Action to Reach out to Infants) series twice per year for resource parents seeking certification to work with medically fragile and young children 0-5 years. All classes are free, highly engaging, and taught by presenters who are informed by research, policy, and experience.

East Bay Agency for Children improves the well-being of children, youth and families by reducing the impact of trauma and social inequities through community-based services that both serve as prevention and complementary recovery services to vulnerable children and families. East Bay Agency for Children delivers a comprehensive continuum of services focused on three strategies: building resiliency by delivering intervention services that help children and families protect themselves against long term harm from chronic exposure to adversity; aiding in recovery by delivering intervention services that treat children exhibiting traumatic stress symptoms and emotional or behavioral disorders; and prevention by providing services that reduce the incidence of childhood adverse experiences.

Family Paths, Inc. (formerly Parental Stress Service) is a non-profit organization of mental health professionals and dedicated volunteers that provide a number of mental health, counseling and therapy services to low income, multi-stressed individuals and families. We are a multicultural agency committed to serving families of Alameda County regardless of age, ethnicity/race, financial status, language, sexual orientation, immigration status, class, religion, gender, mental or physical ability. We have served the mental health needs of children and families since 1972, and currently offer a 24-hour Parent Support Hotline, a 24-hour Foster Parent Advice Line, CalWORKs Case Management, Positive Parenting Classes and counseling for children, adolescents, adults and families.

The First 5 Lake Commission consists of nine members who collectively value inclusive collaboration, efficacy & accountability, meaningful partnerships, integrity, sustainability, positivity, equity, and a child and family focus. First 5 Lake promotes the early health, learning and family support for children from the prenatal stage through five years of age through its investments, advocacy and collaborative efforts in the community.

First 5 Mendocino aims to keep families together by promoting helpful skills for parents, caregivers, professionals and para-professionals to build resilience in families and communities so all children thrive. We work closely with parents and caregivers, throughout Mendocino County, to ensure that all children are happy, healthy and ready for kindergarten. We do this through our Raise & Shine Program, which educates parents and caregivers about positive parenting and connects them to other needed community resources. Raise & Shine promotes the evidence-based parenting program known as Triple P (Positive Parenting Program). Our program offers both direct services to caregivers and parents and Triple P trainings to community and Child Welfare agencies, schools, pediatricians and mental health providers.

First Place for Youth was founded in 1998 to end the cycle of poverty and homelessness that impacts the lives of thousands of youth exiting the foster care system in California. The mission of First Place for Youth is to help foster youth build the skills they need to make a successful transition to self-sufficiency and responsible adulthood. First Place for Youth operates in four Bay Area counties (Alameda, San Francisco, Contra Costa and Solano) and, as of 2010, in Los Angeles County. We are now one of the largest providers of housing and wraparound services to this vulnerable population in California, housing 404 foster youth in 2014.

Fred Finch Youth & Family Services is a non-profit organization that provides innovative, effective, caring mental health and social services to children, young adults, and their families that allows them to build on their strengths, overcome challenges, and live healthy and productive lives. We serve children, adolescents, young adults, and families facing complex life challenges. We have the experience and cultural competency to serve individuals from all ethnic, age, and gender groups effectively.

Lincoln was founded in 1883 as the region’s first volunteer-run, non-sectarian, and fully integrated orphanage. As times and community needs evolved, Lincoln’s commitment to vulnerable children remained strong. Today Lincoln provides preventative, individualized and comprehensive support services with a focus on three core areas that disrupt cycles of poverty and trauma: Education – Addressing obstacles that impact academic attendance and achievement; Family – Strengthening stability and creating permanency; and Well-Being – Improving resiliency and wellness.

Mendocino County Youth Project (MCYP), or “The Youth Project,” was begun in 1974 by the Mendocino County Probation Department, supported by community advocates and local educators seeking solutions for youth who were having difficulty at school, in the community or in the home. MCYP became autonomous as a joint powers agency in 1992. MCYP programs include prevention and early intervention services through its Youth Action Program; counseling services and mental health support for young children and youth up to age 24 and their families; and transition age youth services.

Redwood Community Services, Inc. (RCS) is a non‐profit, organization serving children and families in Mendocino, Lake and Sonoma Counties. Incorporated in October 1995, RCS began as a Foster Family Agency with a vision to grow and expand services to children and families in our communities. RCS has grown into a multi‐program “Family Service Agency”. Our purpose is to provide placement, permanency, counseling and community service options for children through a family sensitive, child focused, strength based approach to care. Our goal is to strengthen families and empower our communities’ most vulnerable children through programs and services that benefit in building a healthy and whole community…one child and one family at a time.

Seneca Family of Agencies sustains children and families through the most difficult times of their lives. In many cases, we are the last hope for young people who have come to see failure and discouragement as a way of life. Here at Seneca, we offer each child a simple but profound promise: You will be supported every step of the way, no matter what challenges you face. By supporting each child and family in identifying and building upon their resources and strengths, we enable them to approach the future with renewed optimism and a stronger sense of the possibilities for creating a new and different story for their lives.

Side by Side (formerly Sunny Hills Services) was founded in 1895 as an orphanage in Marin County and has evolved into a regional youth and child welfare agency dedicated to protecting, serving, nurturing, and healing vulnerable children, adolescents, and young adults. Our programs include gang prevention and intervention, support services for foster youth and youth in the juvenile justice system, mental health services, and a special therapeutic educational program. We serve young people in Sonoma, Napa, Marin, Contra Costa, and Alameda counties and strive to address the needs of underserved children and youth to help them function productively in society.

UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland is the only independent children’s hospital in Northern California and is designated a Level I pediatric trauma center. UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital’s Center for the Vulnerable Child and Early Intervention Services is involved in research and treatment for a variety of children’s health issues, such as pediatric obesity, cancers, sickle cell disease, AIDS/HIV, hemophilia and cystic fibrosis.

WestCoast Children’s Clinic is an agency founded on a belief in psychology and community, and a belief in children and their indomitable spirit. It is our job to help our clients believe in themselves, even if they can’t believe in the world around them. We are an agency defined by our community and commitment to children and families. By our belief that every child has a right to grow up knowing they are valued. And if this belief is not reflected to them, it is our job to help them discover who they are, and who they can become. It is our role to help our clients live with more choices, not fewer. To build resources inside themselves. Remove barriers to their growing potential. And help them find their way in the world.