Crittenton Earns ‘Change-Maker in Child Welfare’ Distinction from Human Rights Campaign
Crittenton Services is proud to announce that we are 1 of 40 child welfare organizations, nationwide, recognized by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, All Children – All Families (ACAF) project, as an organization that has met their benchmarks for the “Solid Foundation for Inclusion” tier of recognition in all programming efforts agency wide. We are humbled to have earned the “You Are Welcome Here” seal of approval!
The All Children – All Families (ACAF) project continues to partner with child welfare agencies across the U.S. by offering expertise and resources to help each organization achieve safety, permanency, and well-being for the LGBTQ+ youth and families they serve.
“Crittenton is committed to uphold the tenets of our mission and continuing to provide, post pandemic, the quality care and essential mental health services to each of our youth and families in need of our support,” said Martha Jasso, Crittenton’s Communications Director, and added, “As an agency that operates within the context of trauma-informed best practices and a space where ALL children and youth matter, we can say without doubt that this distinction means the world to us. We thank the Human Rights Campaign for recognizing our agency’s work and effort in being welcoming and inclusive to all those in our care including our clients that identify as LGBTQ+.”
The Human Rights Campaign partnered with a total of 119 child welfare agencies from across 35 states as part of the ACAF’s 2021 Change-Makers in Child Welfare report and assessment process. Organizations who partnered in this endeavor participated in an assessment, prioritized staff development, and implemented the ACAF’s Benchmarks of LGBTQ+ Inclusion, which tracks policy and practice changes within participating agencies.
For those agencies that took part in ACAF’s report assessment agencies were recognized in one of three Tiers of Recognition, depending on the extent to which each agency implemented the ACAF Benchmarks of LGBTQ+ Inclusion.
Through this process, Crittenton was recognized within the “Solid Foundation for Inclusion” tier of agencies and has been given for a third year in a row the “You Are Welcome Here” seal of distinction.
The “Solid Foundation for Inclusion” is a tier of recognition in which child welfare agencies have implemented the essential elements of LGBTQ+ inclusion in policies and affirming practices. The benchmarks go beyond basic non-discrimination protections to the policies and practices necessary to actively “roll out the welcome mat” to the LGBTQ+ community.
These child welfare agencies have also assessed their practices specific to youth and parents to ensure LGBTQ+ inclusion and acted to make these efforts sustainable for the long-term. The following are the benchmark requirements and standards for the “Solid Foundation for Inclusion” designation that Crittenton has proudly met and upheld:
- Non-Discrimination: Crittenton has no tolerance for any form of discriminatory practices throughout our agency programming, whether providing services to the youth and families in our care or our foster family recruitment, employee hiring, and contracting practices.
- Staff Training: As a child welfare agency, we must keep up with licensing requirements in the form of staff training and development; this includes cultural competency training for all employees and volunteers.
- Rolling Out the Welcome Mat: From the inception of our agency, the goal has been clear to assist ALL youth that need our help – no exceptions.
- Parent Best Practices: We work with both biological and foster parents and encourage all care givers and Crittenton staff members to engage in a respectful manner that focuses and places our youth’s health and well-being above all else.
- Youth Best Practices: We are an agency that interacts and serves youth from every conceivable background and lived experience, and we take our duty of providing a safe environment for all by helping every youth in a respectful, culturally responsive and child-focused manner. The priority has always been the health and well-being of ALL youth in our care.
- Sustainability and Capacity Building: Prioritizing a healthy and respectful work and treatment environment for those that we serve is essential in our standard operational practice. We believe that to succeed; we must be inclusive of all perspectives and adapt to ever-changing local and national child welfare practices and policy standards.
To be included in the All Children – All Families 2021 Report and highlighted as an organization that deeply cares for and respects the healthy development of ALL children in our care is an honor. We continue to thank the Human Rights Campaign for their efforts in publicly acknowledging the work being accomplished in child welfare agencies across the country, and celebrating the everyday change-makers in our profession. It’s a distinction we are proud to be associated with and a recognition we will continue to work diligently to hold.
For more information about the HRC All Children – All Families 2021 Report:
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Crittenton Services for Children and Families of Southern California (CSCF) is a nonprofit child welfare and mental health organization whose mission is to heal the wounds of abuse and neglect; strengthen families; and help troubled adolescents reach their full potential. Established and incorporated in 1966, Crittenton has an experienced and dedicated workforce operating 24 hours a day / 7 days a week providing comprehensive mental health services, shelter care, and other support services to the clients in our care. We provide a continuum of care programming effort that includes short-term residential, family preservation, integrated behavioral health, wraparound services, outpatient mental health, school-linked mental health, transitional age youth programming, and foster care services with a service plan area throughout Southern California that covers Orange, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside Counties.
Visit www.crittentonsocal.org to learn more about our programs and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Flickr