Celebrating Sixty Years of Automobiles and Philanthropy
Kinship Center volunteers sell tickets and raise funds for kids!

Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is a premiere world class automobile event that is celebrating its 60th Anniversary this year. Held every August in Pebble Beach, California, the Concours attracts distinguished participants and guests from around the world. Since its beginnings, the Concours has contribued more than $13 million from this event to charity.

For the 11th year, Kinship Center is proud to be a selected Concours charity! Each year our Board members, employees and volunteers (shown here at the 2009 event) pull out all the stops to sell opportunity tickets and raise funds for kids. This year Kinship Center has been awarded the chance to sell tickets to win a spectacular 2010 Mercedes-Benz C300 Sport Sedan, msrp $36,000, donated by Mercedes-Benz USA.

Tickets may be purchased by downloading the order form and mailing, faxing, or calling in your order.**

Ticket holders also have the chance to win exquisite $25K diamond drop earrings donated by Molina Fine Jewelers. The wining tickets will be drawn on the show field podium by Master of Ceremonies Jay Leno on August 15, 2010. Winners do not have to be present to win.

Each year, the proceeds raised through Kinship Center’s opportunity ticket sales go directly to programs that support abused, neglected and abandoned children. These funds help Kinship Center create safe, new, permanent families and a second chance at life for these most vulnerable children. Click here to read Kinship Center’s charity spotlight in the 2009 Pebble Beach Insider Magazine.

Kinship Center wishes to express appreciation to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance for our longtime partnership, with best wishes for a wonderful 60th Anniversary year!

**The IRS does not permit direct purchase of opportunity tickets on the Internet. Kinship Center accepts faxed or mailed orders, or you may call (831) 455-4712 to place your order. For questions please call (831) 455-4723.

Four Kinship Center professionals were key presenters mid-July at a Training Institute hosted by Georgetown University’s National Technical Assistance Center for Children’s Mental Health at the University’s Center for Child and Human Development, Washington D.C.

The five-day Institute highlighted the best systems of care for children who have mental health challenges or who are at risk for developing such problems. Kinship Center, a recognized national leader in training on child welfare and mental health, was invited to showcase its widely acclaimed practices in treating children’s mental health issues, and its specialty at working with families formed by adoption and guardianship.

Participating from Kinship Center were Laura Ornelas, LCSW, Kinship Center Regional Mental Health Director for Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties, Allison Maxon, LMFT, Regional Executive Director for Adoptions and Education in Kinship Center’s Orange County programs, Ron Huxley, LMFT, Director of Kinship Center’s Children’s Mental Health Clinic in San Luis Obispo County, and Debbie Schugg, Senior Supervisor from Kinship Center’s Wraparound Program in Monterey County.

Kinship Center’s unique understanding of the special issues faced by children who come from backgrounds of abuse, neglect and abandonment makes it possible to provide successful clinical therapies and education for traumatized children and their new adoptive, guardian or extended relative families. In the past decade Kinship Center has also trained nearly 7,000 child welfare and mental health professionals in the U.S. on its successful clinical models. The agency’s practice of simultaneously training parents and industry professionals creates a common framework and language to address the needs of children who have been impacted by trauma.

Kinship Center’s Georgetown presentation profiled effective practices and highlighted the success of Kinship Center’s four mental health clinics, which serve more than 600 children throughout California each week.

Kinship Center Southern California Headquarters Moves to Tustin

After 15 years in Santa Ana, Kinship Center’s main program and administrative facility in Southern California has moved to Tustin. The new facility will house the Kinship Center Children’s Mental Health Clinic and will be the hub for the many programs serving children and families in the region.

The many dozens of staff who deliver services in Orange County are especially pleased to be relocating to a large, centrally located new space, and they look forward to settling into offices, hanging art work, and getting back to life as normal at Kinship Center. CLICK HERE for a lighthearted photo gallery of moving day, and stay tuned for an update when everything is up and running!

The new address is: 18302 Irvine Blvd., Suite 300, Tustin, CA 92780
Phone: (714) 957-1004

Children and families in Southern California are also served by Kinship Center facilities in Anaheim, Redlands, Pasadena and San Dimas. Click here for complete contact information.

Kinship Center is honored to announce the addition of four new members to its statewide Board of Directors.

Kinship Center has facilities and provides services throughout California, and the Board of Directors represent a variety of communities in the state. The Board’s newest members were welcomed this month by Board Chair John Wilkinson at Kinship Center’s Salinas, CA statewide headquarters, shown here, and at Kinship Center’s Southern California headquarters in Orange County. “We are pleased and privileged to bring this kind of new talent to our Board,” said Wilkinson.

Kinship Center welcomes its new members:

Jane Ballback, M.A., is a recently retired partner of The Baldwin Group, specializing in organization development and performance consulting. She devotes her time to assisting Orange County nonprofits achieve their business development and fundaising goals, and is in wide demand as a speaker and presenter. Jane has authored a series of career development books and is completing a book about her experiences as an adoptive parent of three.

John D’Arrigo is President of D’Arrigo Brothers, a major Central Coast produce company, and he is a longtime Kinship Center supporter. John is past Board Chairman of Western Growers and a past president of the Grower-Shipper Association of Central California. This year John spearheaded the creation of the Agricultural Leadership Council, an industry consortium representing 21 grower-shippers, with a goal of providing needed support and funds to local charities.

Justin Reyes is a Firefighting Engineer and Paramedic with Monterey County Regional Fire District. He has been a friend to Kinship Center for a decade through the organization of an annual Fire District event benefitting Kinship Center children. Justin is often recognized in the County for his community contributions. He was recently selected as a 2010 honoree for the prestigious Jefferson Award, in recognition of his selfless giving to needy children, including those at farm labor camps.

Marice White is Vice President of Schubert Flint Public Affairs, Irvine and Sacramento. She brings a background of public affairs and media relations to her position in Southern California, working with community groups, elected officials and a variety of agencies. She has provided clients with direction and strategic planning for their community relations, media, advertising, and advocacy needs. Marice’s work has been recognized by the Public Relations Society of America.

This month we recognize the volunteers in our community who give in a uniquely American way…donating valuable time, energy and helping hands that few nonprofits could afford to pay for. April 18-24 is National Volunteer Appreciation Week, and Kinship Center salutes all those who make life better for others through their volunteer service to Kinship Center.

“Volunteers have been the lifeblood of our agency from the very beginning,” says Kinship Center Executive Vice President Carol Bishop. “Local citizens helped us get started 25 years ago, and community members are still making a huge difference in our ability to change children’s lives.”

Monterey County Firefighter Justin Reyes, above right, devotes many dozens of volunteer hours each year to bringing seasonal cheer and fire safety education to Kinship Center children. Shown here with wife Michelle and Kinship Center Board of Directors member Dick Murnighan, Justin was recently selected as a KSBW 2010 Jefferson Award honoree for his selfless giving to some of the county’s neediest children.

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Recently released to wide acclaim is Siblings in Adoption and Foster Care, by collaborating authors Kinship Center former VIce President Deborah Silverstein (with contributing Kinship Center experts) and Susan L. Smith, Professor Emerita of Social Work at Illinois State University.

“The sibling bond is one of the most threatened and fragile connections for children who find themselves stuck in the maze of the child welfare system,” says Jayne Schooler of the Institute for Human Services, Columbus, Ohio. “Never before has there been a book that so thoroughly addresses the issues, challenges practice, and offers comprehensive research and practical suggestions for social workers, mental health providers and anyone who makes lifelong decisions for children and their families. This book is an outstanding contribution to the field of child welfare.”

To read more about Siblings in Adoption and Foster Care or to order the book, please click here.

Kinship Center’s Monterey County Mental Health Clinic has just announced a new community service for adults and children seeking psychotherapy, psychiatric services, and psychological and educational assessments. The new service expands Kinship Center’s professional mental health programs to include those not covered by Medi-Cal, on a fee-for-service basis.

Services are designed primarily for children and adults whose lives have been touched by adoption, relative caregiving, childhood trauma, grief and loss, attachment difficulties, depression, anxiety, or learning and other school related problems. Click here for more information or call (831) 455-4771 for information or to make an appointment.

For the third year, ‘Recycled Rides,’ a program of the National Auto Body Council, has provided safe, reliable transport to families in need through lovingly repaired, restored used vehicles.

This year two Southern California Kinship Center families are enjoying a dream come true…a “new” car, presented through a partnership between Recycled Rides, FIX Auto, the Automobile Club of So CA, and the Rotary Club of El Monte.

Suzie, a grandmother and sole caregiver of six, shed tears of joy when she was awarded a revamped Kia Minivvan to transport her large family. “This is an answer to a prayer,” said Suzie about the unexpected gift.

Kristine and Leo, shown above, are caregivers to three young relatives and parents of three. The couple received a “nearly new” Chevy Suburban. The big plus for this family of eight? “Now we’ll be able to go places together…everyone in one car!”

Kinship Centeralt Senior Family Recruiter Kim Felder expresses her commitment to permanence for children in a very personal way. Mother to seven adopted and two birth children, Felder and husband Carl also help educate other adoptive parents, and the entire family is involved in advocacy for adoption.

Felder was nominated by Congressman Gary Miller (CA-42) for the prestigious Angels in Adoption Award for her 20-year unparalleled career in adoptive family development. She received the award at a September 30 ceremony in Washington D.C. The annual Angels in Adoption recognition allows members of the U.S. Congress to honor significant achievements by child welfare professionals, and outstanding Kinship Center staff are regularly among those recognized. Shown here: Senator Mary Landrieu, LA, (at left) who chairs the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, presented the award to Felder.

During her career, Felder has shepherded thousands of children into permanent homes, including some of the hardest-to-place adolescents, sibling groups and children with severe medical disabilities. Her aggressive efforts include taking the time to know each waiting child and exhaustive research to match those unique needs with the right family. Felder’s devotion to detail ensures a high level of success and she is held in the highest regard by the counties she works with.

“I have been blessed to pursue my life’s goal of helping children obtain the right to a permanent, loving family,” says Felder. “I cannot think of anything more important or rewarding.”

Kinship Center received a gift of $50,000 from the Gabilan Chapter Women’s Auxiliary on January 25 at the Chapter’s Annual Meeting in Hollister. Receiving the gift from Chapter members Jo Schlie (l) and Carol Feisthamel (r) on behalf of Kinship Center’s Board of Directors was Chair-Elect Sandy Haney (center). “This wonderful gift is a tribute to the amazing dedication and commitment of this group,” said Haney.

The gift represents proceeds from a variety of fundraising projects undertaken by Chapter members, including the signature  Wine & Food Tasting event that attracts attendance of up to 1200 each year. The sellout event, the oldest of its kind on the Central Coast, has grown to include participation by large numbers of regional wineries and restaurants. The 2010 event will be held on September 11, from 4:00 – 6:30 pm at the historic Paicines Ranch in San Benito County. For information please contact the event chairs at (831) 801-0229 /timbertextiles@razzolink.com; or (831) 801-7124 / guerras@razzolink.com

The Gabilan Chapter, which boasts several hundred members and associates, supports Kinship Center’s vital services to children and families in San Benito County. For information on the Chapter or its events, or to find out how to become a member, please call Chapter President Kay Filice at 831-637-3200 or email kayfilice@gmail.com

Some Kinship Center families are especially grateful this year to an Orange County Foundation that was created to meet some extraordinary needs of ordinary people.

The Change a Life Foundation, headquartered in Irvine, CA, has a straightforward mission: to help individuals and families who, through no fault of their own, have experienced an injury, illness, or catastrophic life event, and who are suffering financial hardship, by providing support for critically needed direct services that promote their self-sufficiency and improve their quality of life.

In the past year, the Foundation has provided more than $40,000 in specific assistance to families who are clients of Kinship Center and who were identified by Kinship Center professionals because of some critical special needs.

“The Foundation makes the application process so easy that even those staff members with no grant writing experience are able to submit compelling proposals outlining the needs of select families,” says Kinship Center Regional Executive Director Allison Maxon. “Our social workers, therapists and others throughout the state are tremendously enthusiastic about being able to provide extra help for client families in this way. We are so grateful to Change a Life Foundation.”

More than 150 Kinship Center direct service professionals work throughout the year to create safe, permanent havens for abused and neglected children who have been removed from their homes to keep them safe.

Shown here: A March 2 celebration at Kinship Center headquarters in Salinas recognizes “National Social Work Month.” Through this and other celebrations around the state, Kinship Center pays tribute to its social workers, therapists, psychologists and psychiatrists, occupational and speech therapists, caseworkers and others who work directly with children in crisis and with the men and women who step forward to provide a new home and a loving, permanent family.

The National Association of Social Workers calls social work a profession of hope, grounded in practical problem solving expertise. It is a profession important to the successful functioning of American society, filled with people who believe there are no limits to human potential and who use their talents to help others lead rewarding lives.

Each year Kinship Center staff members are recognized on a national stage for improving the lives of traumatized children through their dedication, cutting edge work, and excellent outcomes. Kinship Center salutes these fine professionals who change lives every day.

Kinship Center President and CEO Carol Biddle recently returned from England where she celebrated Kinship Center’s 25th Anniversary as an invited speaker at the Oxford University Roundtable Conference: “The Next Generation Besieged: Violence, Sex and Substance Abuse.”

The invitation reflects the groundbreaking work that Carol Biddle and Executive Vice President Carol Bishop have spearheaded since they founded Kinship Center in 1984.
At Oxford Carol Biddle presented a paper entitled Protecting Children: Evidence-Informed PsychoEducational Training for Professionals and Family Caregivers. “We have been blessed at Kinship Center with some of the most incredible minds in the field who have contributed to developing this curriculum,” says Biddle. She points out that Kinship Center trainings are evidence-based, drawing from the rich expertise of Kinship Center professionals. They are constantly being updated to reflect new research and, most importantly, what Kinship Center staff learn in the field.

“Our trainings are more than sharing information,” Biddle explains. “They are intereactive, skill-building trainings for both professionals and parents.” The curriculum is an organic process. For example, Biddle points to new research in the neurobiology of trauma and child development that is informing the child welfare profession. “The field is deepening our understanding of how a lack of consistent emotional nurturing, nutrition, permanency or trust can affect the young child’s neurological development and thus can create psychological challenges for a child.”

With this kind of expertise, Kinship Center staff help prepare prospective adoptive and foster parents and relative caregivers to meet these challenges and provide a loving, permanent home for traumatized children. “This is why we have a 98% success rate at keeping new families strong,” says Biddle. Her smile and the intensity and love reflected in her eyes have helped shape the child welfare profession for more than 25 years.

Kinship Center is pleased to welcome scholar-in-residence, Dr. Michael Grand, Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. Over the past 30 years, Dr. Grand’s professional activities and research have been focused on search and reunion, adoptive family identity, provision of adoption services and openness in legislation and practice. He has received awards from the North American Council on Adoptable Children, the Adoption Council of Canada and the Adoption Council of Ontario for his contributions to best practice policies in adoption and permanence.

Dr. Grand will spend his sabbatical year bringing his research and expertise to Kinship Center’s statewide programs, including analyzing the agency’s mental health clinic data and outcomes with a view to determining the efficacy of clinical models. He is shown here with Kinship Center Regional Executive Directors Del Stewart (L) and Allison Maxon.

Partnerships with universities and schools throughout California and elsewhere are bringing Kinship Center’s expertise to educators and child welfare professionals in public and private settings as well as enhancing learning for the agency’s own social workers and therapists.

This month California State University Monterey Bay announced a new Master of Social Work degree program, which will start in the fall of 2010. The program will address a chronic shortage of trained social workers in the region and has grown out of a strong university-community partnership that included a Community Advisory Board co-chaired by Kinship Center President Carol Biddle and Executive Vice President Carol Bishop. “The MSW program is an excellent example of the university collaborating with community partners in order to meet critical workforce needs,” said CSUMB President Dianne Harrison.

Kinship Center’s Southern California programs have continuing partnerships with USC, Whittier College, Long Beach State and other area institutions that help more than a dozen graduate interns each year receive the clinical experience they need through hands-on work with Kinship Center children’s mental health clinic and other programs. And since September Kinship Center has hosted Scholar-in-Residence Dr. Michael Grand from the University of Guelph in Ontario for an-eight-month research partnership that will strengthen the collection, analysis and application of data to build on positive outcomes. [See article "Kinship Center Announces Scholar -in-Residence"].

This year Kinship Center was invited to participate in an Oxford University roundtable conference [See article "Kinship Center CEO Presents at Oxford"], and in the coming months Kinship Center’s Education Institute will provide clinical training in a variety of school and university settings.

Volunteers came out in force to plan and host the first “Teddy Bear Ride” fundraiser on April 18 at Cooks Corner in Orange County.

Spearheaded by the Kinship Center Auxiliary of Orange County, a group of tireless volunteers who work to support Kinship Center programs in So CA, the ride attracted about three dozen biker enthusiasts who joined the fun to help kids.

The 100-mile ride wound through some beautiful scenery from Ortega Highway to “Hell’s Kitchen” to Lake Elsinore and Temescal Canyon and finally to Original Mike’s in Santa Ana for music, raffles, silent auction and food for the competitors and supporters. All funds raised will go to Kinship Center’s programs that serve children in need of safe, permanent homes.

Event chairpersons Mandy Stewart and Shirley Carlisle express appreciation to all the volunteers and participants who contributed to a successful inaugural event. They are already planning for next year’s sequel.

One change? “We’re going to get much larger T-shirts…bikers are big people!” says Mandy.

As families across the nation prepared for Mother’s Day, Kinship Center was helping a special group of mothers come together to share their stories and draw support from one another.

On Tuesday, May 4, the staff at Kinship Center’s Southern California program center in Santa Ana hosted a celebration for birth mothers who came to Kinship Center for help and who ultimately made the difficult and courageous choice to relinquish their babies for adoption.

Director of Placements Melissa Dodson, MSW, shown above, works with many such young women each year. “We provide confidential support to help women facing an unplanned pregnancy understand and consider all their options,” says Dodson. “We make sure women are informed of their legal rights, and we help them create their own unique adoption plan, if that is their choice.”

Kinship Center offers a full spectrum of services to help birth mothers (and fathers, grandparents and other family members) deal with the complex feelings associated with unplanned pregnancy and the difficult decisions being faced. Click here to visit a special Kinship Center website that provides answers to questions and offers specific and confidential help.

To speak to a Kinship Center counselor, call 1-888-466-6693.

Over the past months Monterey County residents have noticed a cyclist pumping his way along Hwy 68 and River Road to and from Kinship Center’s headquarters in Salinas. That’s Dr. Michael Grand, Kinship Center’s visiting Scholar-in-Residence. Besides being an avid cyclist, Dr. Grand is a world renowned expert in the field of adoption.

A professor in the Graduate Program of Child Clinical Psychology at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, Dr. Grand accepted an invitation from Kinship Center to spend his 2009-2010 sabbatical year working with Kinship Center clinical programs for children who come from abuse, neglect and abandonment. With thirty years’ experience, Grand offers a breadth and depth of knowledge to the agency’s work with children and families around the state. [See article "Kinship Center Announces Scholar-in-Residence."]

“It’s exciting to be at an agency that has put into practice the principles I hold dear about how to deliver the best services to adoptive families,” says Grand, who is nearing the end of his one-year stay. “This has been an incredible opportunity for me to work with a diverse professional staff. Their huge range of expertise has helped fine tune the concepts I’m writing about.”

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In recognition of May’s National Foster Care Month, Kinship Center was honored on the steps of the state capital for exemplary work to improve the lives of foster youth.

Kinship Center’s “Family Ties” relative caregiver program, serving both Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties, is one of three programs honored on May 3 by the Foster Care Month Coalition, a statewide advocacy group. Receiving the award is Program Director Charles Chambers, shown here with Family Ties clients Vera Flores (r) and grandaughter Narissa Salazar (center). Cousin Sarina Perez is on left.

“This recognition is a tribute to the local efforts and achievements being made in Monterey County for the betterment of outcomes for foster youth,” said Elliott Robinson, Director of the Monterey County Department of Social and Employment Services.

Kinship Center Family Ties provides critical support services to relatives unexpectedly caring for family members’ children…services that make the difference in the ability of these relatives, often older grandparents, to successfully parent troubled children. Counseling, information and referral, parent education, support groups, children’s mental health services, and emergency services of all kinds help build the capacity of kin caregivers to meet the extreme needs of children who have come from abuse, neglect or abandonment.

The relative support program helps traumatized children remain connected to their extended families rather than being placed in public foster care, says Chambers. Since the inception of Family Ties in 1999, the program has served thousands of children…some 350 a month in Monterey County and close to 100 in San Luis Obispo County.

One such child is 18-year-old Narissa Salazar, who is glad to tell her story.

” I have two siblings, Jessica and Alyssa, who are 21 and 20. We were raised from ages one, two and three by my grandmother. My parents were unable to raise us because of their drug addictions. Family Ties helped us realize we weren’t the only kids without a mother and a father. it is hard explaining to people why you live with your grandmother and not your parents. Family Ties helped us cope with our situation by accepting us like a family. It can get real lonely without a family, but Family Ties is our family.”

The Kinship Center Family Ties program serves all parts of Monterey County through three service facilities in Salinas, Seaside and Greenfield. Kinship Center Family Ties also has a program site in Templeton, which serves San Luis Obispo County families through a network of community collaboration. Click here for more information.