Children's Institute Inc.

Last updated
Children's Institute, Inc.
Founded1906
Location
Area served
Los Angeles County
Website www.childrensinstitute.org

Children's Institute Inc. (CII) is a nonprofit organization that provides services to children and families healing from the effects of family and community violence within Los Angeles. [1] Founded in 1906 by Minnie Barton, [2] Los Angeles's first female probation officer, [3] the organization (then named the Big Sister League) was first designed to help troubled young women who found themselves adrift in Los Angeles. [4] The organization has since expanded its services to at-risk youth in Los Angeles who are affected by child abuse, neglect domestic and gang violence as well as poverty. CII is a multi-service organization that combines evidence-based clinical services, youth development programs and family support services designed to address the whole child and entire family. The organization provides various forms of trauma support—including therapy, intervention services, parenting workshops, early childcare programs and other support services offered in English, Spanish and Korean.

Contents

CII currently serves thousands of families throughout Los Angeles County at three main campuses: The Otis Booth campus in the Rampart/Westlake district; the Burton Green Campus in Torrance and the Mid-Wilshire campus near L.A.'s Koreatown. CII also operates a satellite center in Watts and San Pedro/Long Beach. The organization's therapeutic focus is based on the concepts of Recovery, Resilience and Readiness and seeks to help youth build confidence and discover and develop skills to break through barriers—both emotional and situational—to grow up and lead healthy, productive lives.

The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation (EMCF) has invested $10 million [5] in Children's Institute Inc. to date. In 2011, CII received a $5 million, three-year Social Innovation Fund [6] award to expand its presence in the Watts and Central Los Angeles communities. The organization also has received a grant from the Foundation's True North Fund.

In July 2014, the organization announced in a partnership with Pritzker-prize-winning architect Frank Gehry [7] [8] to design a new full-service campus [9] in the Watts community of Los Angeles. [10] The 20,000-square-foot building was opened in 2022. [11]

In the 1980s, the organization played a role in the McMartin preschool trial, interviewing children suspected of being abused using methods that were at the time completely new, [12] [13] and later discredited. [14]

Programs and services

CII is a multi-service agency that utilizes evidence-based practices and an integrated service model offering coordinated prevention, intervention and treatment assistance for children and their families in at-risk neighborhoods across Greater Los Angeles.

The organization provides support in the areas of mental health, individual and family treatment, early care and education, child welfare, family support, youth development and also runs the Leadership Center - a program that trains thousands of professionals a year through conferences and workshops for mental health and children's services professionals, policymakers law enforcement and the like, on a variety of health and family topics that stress best practices. They also run an internship program for psychologists, accredited by the American Psychological Association, and social work interns through the University of Southern California School of Social Work. The organization was recognized as “Agency of the Year” by the USC School of Social Work in May 2014.

CII's family-driven and culturally sensitive programming has been shaped and influenced by the organization's longstanding participation in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) whose mission is “to raise the standard of care and improve access to services for traumatized children, their families and communities across the nation”. [15]

The organization also works on a variety of community impact projects in partnership with a variety of local, state and national agencies, organizations and schools, including First 5 LA, [16] the Los Angeles Police Department, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles County Departments of Mental Health and Children and Family Services, and others.

• Behavioral Health Programs

Children's Institute works with teams of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, marriage and family therapists, paraprofessionals and other partners to provide coordinated behavioral health services to children, birth to age 21, with emotional and behavioral challenges, and their families.

The organization's mental health programs include: Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), among other modalities. Specialized treatment groups are offered in areas such as domestic violence, substance abuse, etc. The organization also provides intensive services such as Wraparound and other home-based programs.

• Early Childhood Programs:

CII is accredited by the California Alliance for Child & Family Services, and several of the organization's Early Childhood Centers are accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Supplemented by a range of child and family support services, CII offers comprehensive Early Care and Education programs (ECE) for pregnant women, children from six weeks to five years of age and their families. Serving low income at risk families, the programs promote the optimal development of children and build and/or strengthen effective parenting skills.

• Child Welfare Programs:

With child safety and family stability in mind, CII's Child Welfare programs focus on family reunification, preservation and support. Programs include: Family Preservation and Project Fatherhood—providing support groups for fathers, therapy, father-child activities, and job readiness training for fathers (and significant others) hoping to increase their involvement in their children's upbringing. (see Partnerships and Pilot Programs below)

• Youth Development Programs:

Designed to strengthen self-esteem and resiliency, CII's Youth Development Programs focus on activities and workshops that help foster leadership skills, inspire creativity and promote the development of transferable enrichment and workplace skills. Offerings at various CII campuses include: Creative Arts (painting, music and digital media); Literacy and Education (computer lab and creative writing) Health and Wellness (cooking and nutrition; Sports and Exercise) and Life Skills (Youth Internship Program and SOAR - Social Skills Development Group).

McMartin preschool trial

CII played a major role in the McMartin preschool trial, one of the first and certainly largest criminal trial that was part of the day care sex abuse hysteria and satanic ritual abuse moral panic. Before the trial, CII investigated primarily physical abuse, with a small section that conducted infrequent medical examinations and interviews with children involved in child sexual abuse allegations.[ citation needed ] Kee MacFarlane, an employee at the center, had the idea to use hand puppets and anatomically correct dolls during interviews with children, believing they would aid disclosure and therapeutic recovery. The initial interviews were taped, and later the sections of the tape in which the children actually made disclosures were shown to parents to convince them their children had been abused. The agency ultimately interviewed more than 350 children who were involved in the trial, [17] using techniques that, when tested, were found to cause children to make false allegations. [18] [19] CII also received $350,000 in state funding in 1985, becoming the first publicly funded training center for the diagnosis and treatment of child abuse. [17] Kee MacFarlane was criticized for her relationship with Wayne Satz, the KABC-TV reporter who first disclosed the accusations against the McMartins. [20]

Related Research Articles

The Satanic panic is a moral panic consisting of over 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse starting in the United States in the 1980s, spreading throughout many parts of the world by the late 1990s, and persisting today. The panic originated in 1980 with the publication of Michelle Remembers, a book co-written by Canadian psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder and his patient, Michelle Smith, which used the controversial and now discredited practice of recovered-memory therapy to make claims about satanic ritual abuse involving Smith. The allegations, which arose afterward throughout much of the United States, involved reports of physical and sexual abuse of people in the context of occult or Satanic rituals. Some allegations involve a conspiracy of a global Satanic cult that includes the wealthy and elite in which children are abducted or bred for human sacrifice, pornography, and prostitution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Head Start (program)</span> U.S. federal aid program for low-income childcare

Head Start is a program of the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides comprehensive early childhood education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and families. It is the oldest and largest program of its kind. The program's services and resources are designed to foster stable family relationships, enhance children's physical and emotional well-being, and establish an environment to develop strong cognitive skills. The transition from preschool to elementary school imposes diverse developmental challenges that include requiring the children to engage successfully with their peers outside the family network, adjust to the space of a classroom, and meet the expectations the school setting provides.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foster care</span> System of non-parental temporary child-care

Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home, or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent", or with a family member approved by the state. The placement of a "foster child" is normally arranged through the government or a social service agency. The institution, group home, or foster parent is compensated for expenses unless with a family member.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Preschool</span> Establishment for education of young children

A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary school. It may be publicly or privately operated, and may be subsidized from public funds. The typical age range for preschool in most countries is from 2 to 6 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McMartin preschool trial</span> 1980s day care sexual abuse case

The McMartin preschool trial was a day care sexual abuse case in the 1980s, prosecuted by the Los Angeles District Attorney, Ira Reiner. Members of the McMartin family, who operated a preschool in Manhattan Beach, California, were charged with hundreds of acts of sexual abuse of children in their care. Accusations were made in 1983, with arrests and the pretrial investigation taking place from 1984 to 1987 and trials running from 1987 to 1990. The case lasted seven years but resulted in no convictions, and all charges were dropped in 1990. By the case's end, it had become the longest and most expensive series of criminal trials in American history. The case was part of day-care sex-abuse hysteria, a moral panic over alleged Satanic ritual abuse in the 1980s and early 1990s.

A form of child abuse, child neglect is an act of caregivers that results in depriving a child of their basic needs, such as the failure to provide adequate supervision, health care, clothing, or housing, as well as other physical, emotional, social, educational, and safety needs. All societies have established that there are necessary behaviours a caregiver must provide for a child to develop physically, socially, and emotionally. Causes of neglect may result from several parenting problems including mental disorders, unplanned pregnancy, substance use disorder, unemployment, over employment, domestic violence, and, in special cases, poverty.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is a division of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It is headed by the Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Children and Families. It has a $49 billion budget for 60 programs that target children, youth and families. These programs include assistance with welfare, child support enforcement, adoption assistance, foster care, child care, and child abuse. The agency employs approximately 1,700 staff, including 1,200 federal employees and 500 contractors, where 60% are based in Washington, DC, with the remaining in regional offices located in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, Denver, San Francisco, Missouri and Seattle.

Early childhood intervention (ECI) is a support and educational system for very young children who have been victims of, or who are at high risk for child abuse and/or neglect as well as children who have developmental delays or disabilities. Some states and regions have chosen to focus these services on children with developmental disabilities or delays, but Early Childhood Intervention is not limited to children with these disabilities.

A group home, congregate living facility, care home, adult family home, etc., is a structured and supervised residence model that provides assisted living and medical care for those with complex health needs. Traditionally, the model has been used for children or young people who cannot live with their families or afford their own homes, people with chronic disabilities who may be adults or seniors, or people with dementia and related aged illnesses. Typically, there are no more than six residents, and there is at least one trained caregiver there 24 hours a day. In some early "model programs", a house manager, night manager, weekend activity coordinator, and four part-time skill teachers were reported. Originally, the term group home referred to homes of 8 to 16 individuals, which was a state-mandated size during deinstitutionalization. Residential nursing facilities, also included in this article, may be as large as 100 individuals in 2015, which is no longer the case in fields such as intellectual and developmental disabilities. Depending on the severity of the condition requiring one to need to live in a group home, some clients are able to attend day programs and most clients are able to live normal lifestyles.

Astrid Heppenstall Heger is a Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the USC Keck School of Medicine and the founder and Executive Director of the Violence Intervention Program (VIP) at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center in East Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Substance abuse prevention</span> Measures to prevent the consumption of licit and illicit drugs

Substance abuse prevention, also known as drug abuse prevention, is a process that attempts to prevent the onset of substance use or limit the development of problems associated with using psychoactive substances. Prevention efforts may focus on the individual or their surroundings. A concept that is known as "environmental prevention" focuses on changing community conditions or policies so that the availability of substances is reduced as well as the demand. Individual Substance Abuse Prevention, also known as drug abuse prevention involves numerous different sessions depending on the individual to help cease or reduce the use of substances. The time period to help a specific individual can vary based upon many aspects of an individual. The type of Prevention efforts should be based upon the individual's necessities which can also vary. Substance use prevention efforts typically focus on minors and young adults – especially between 12–35 years of age. Substances typically targeted by preventive efforts include alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, inhalants, coke, methamphetamine, steroids, club drugs, and opioids. Community advocacy against substance use is imperative due to the significant increase in opioid overdoses in the United States alone. It has been estimated that about one hundred and thirty individuals continue to lose their lives daily due to opioid overdoses alone.

Family resource programs (FRP) are Canadian community-based organizations that intend to support families in a variety of ways through systems such as family resource centers, family places, family centers, and neighborhood houses. They can also be linked to schools, community centers, child care programs, women's centers, and native friendship centers. This includes programs such as Ontario Early Years and military-funded family centers. They are generally grassroots organizations that aim to be responsive to local issues.

Kathleen 'Kee' MacFarlane is an American social worker known for involvement in the high-profile McMartin preschool trial in the 1980s. She was the Director of Children's Institute International. She developed the concept of the anatomically correct doll for children to use during interviews concerning abuse and played a significant role in the McMartin trial. MacFarlane has been criticized for her methods of interrogating small children. Charges against the defendants were eventually dropped.

Life skills are abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that enable humans to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of life. This concept is also termed as psychosocial competency. The subject varies greatly depending on social norms and community expectations but skills that function for well-being and aid individuals to develop into active and productive members of their communities are considered as life skills.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friends-International</span>

Friends-International (FI) is an international social enterprise and registered non-governmental organization focusing on children's empowerment established in Cambodia in 1994. Its mission is "to build a future where all children are safe from all forms of abuse, are able to become productive citizens of their countries and contribute to a more equitable and sustainable world." FI works in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Thailand and with almost 50 partners around the world, providing social services to marginalized urban young people and their families.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">YWCA Greater Los Angeles</span>

YWCA Greater Los Angeles is a charitable organization with a focus on addressing issues of poverty, homelessness, domestic violence and skills training for the community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nina Revoyr</span> American novelist

Nina Revoyr is an American novelist and children's advocate, best known for her award-winning 2003 novel Southland. She is also executive vice president and chief operating officer of Children's Institute, Inc., which provides clinical, youth development, family support and early childhood services to children and families affected by trauma, violence and poverty in Central and South Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First 5 Los Angeles</span>

First 5 Los Angeles is a nonprofit child-advocacy organization that is part of the First 5 California Children and Families Act.

The Watts Labor Community Action Committee (WLCAC) is a non-profit, 501 (c) 3 organization incorporated in the State of California, in 1965. Its mission "is to improve the quality of life for the residents of Watts and neighboring communities."

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