Services

HOMELESSNESS AND THE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM

Children who have experienced homelessness and those who have been involved in the child welfare system because of abuse or neglect share many things. They have lived in an environment that does not seem safe or predictable. Their confidence has been shaken in the ability that the adults closest to them can meet their basic needs. Their health has been impacted, their family and social networks disrupted. They have come to fear that the world cannot be trusted.

“ "The fact is that often times the child who has been homeless is the same one who has been in the child welfare system."

Responses to these traumas are also similar. Children may exhibit behavioral difficulties like aggression or withdrawal. They may regress developmentally in areas like language and motor skills. They may be hyper-vigilant, always on the lookout for danger. They may have attachment issues, wanting constantly to be held by a caregiver, or not wanting to be touched at all. They may have trouble sleeping.

Sadly, research and our own experiences tell us that it’s not just similar responses to trauma that unite these children. The fact is that often times the child who has been homeless is the same one who has been in the child welfare system.

FACTS ABOUT OUR SERVICES

Children Today provides trauma-informed child development and family services to children and families who are facing homelessness or who are involved in the child welfare system.

68% of our families were under the federal poverty line, which for a family of 3 was $25,820.

By contrast, a living wage in Long Beach, CA, meaning a satisfactory standard of living, is calculated at $140,256.

In Fiscal Year 2024, we served a total of 70 children from 50 households.

Throughout the 2023 - 2024 fiscal year, Children Today provided 22,537 meals to the children in our care, at an estimated grocery cost of $3.58 per child per day (meals are provided free of charge to families).

OUR CORE SERVICES

Trauma-Informed Child Development
Our child development services focus on nurturing young minds in a safe, supportive environment. At our Cherese Mari Laulhere EcoHouse, a Gold LEED-certified facility in Long Beach, we offer:

Early Childhood Education Programs: Tailored for children aged six weeks to five years, our programs are designed to foster emotional, social, and cognitive development.
Safe, Supportive Spaces: With child-friendly indoor and outdoor areas, EcoHouse provides a warm, welcoming environment where children feel secure and valued.
Individualized Assessments: Using tools like the Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP), we ensure each child’s unique needs and progress are carefully monitored and supported.

Family Support Services
We understand that supporting children means supporting their families. Our family services offer holistic support tailored to each family’s unique situation, including:

Community Resource Connection: We connect families with vital services such as housing assistance, mental health support, early intervention programs, and parenting resources.
Tangible Essentials: To ease the daily burdens of families in need, we provide items like diapers, formula, clothing, hygiene products, and meal support, ensuring children have what they need to thrive.

Empowering Family Engagement
We believe in working alongside parents as partners in their child’s growth. Through our family-centered approach, we offer:

Culturally Attuned Support: We respect each family’s cultural and linguistic background.

Our services are built around a simple yet powerful goal: to provide children with a nurturing place to play, learn, and grow, while their families gain the support they need to build a stable, hopeful future.

A TRAUMA-INFORMED APPROACH

We believe that to be able to address the myriad of needs and challenges of these children, service providers must take a trauma-informed approach. This means having a clear understanding of how trauma impacts children and families and creating environments and tailoring services based on that understanding. We know that in order to provide responsive, comprehensive, trauma-informed services, the following fundamentals must be in place:

A Safe and Predictable Environment

Above all, the environment is safe and predictable. For children, this means that they are treated in a consistent and loving manner, and that regardless of their behavior, their needs will be met. For parents, this means that they have confidence in program staff to meet their children’s needs.

Children and Families Have Choice and Influence

For children this means that, within their capacity, they have ample opportunities to make choices and influence decisions about their day. For parents, many of whom have been thoroughly disenfranchised by homelessness, domestic violence, and inter-generational poverty, this means that they are knowledgeable consumers and understand their rights and responsibilities within the program.

Children and Families are Treated With Respect.

For children, this means that caregivers get to know each child as an individual, understand their cues, and engage with them accordingly. For parents, this means that caregivers seek an active relationship; one that acknowledges that they are central to their children’s lives and that they know them best.

Caregivers Understand That Behavior Can be a Response to Trauma.

For both children and parents, this means knowing that behaviors that seem unhealthy or ineffective today may have helped in coping with trauma in the past. Therefore, helping children and parents learn new coping skills is paramount.

2951 Long Beach Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90806 PHONE: (562) 997-8800 NONPROFIT #: 95-4635295

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