SCCS - Children's Support Services

What We Do

SCCS Children's Support Services

Abandoned by her natural parents, Mara had finally been placed with a foster family. Getting a foster placement is an important milestone in the life of an orphaned teenager, but a moment of anger on Mara’s part stunned her new foster parents and threatened to undo everything. Even if Mara’s behavior was understandable, the outburst scared her foster mom and caused her foster father to conclude that he probably needed to take her back to the shelter she’d come from. Fortunately, a crisis response team from South Coast was able to intervene, sort through the difficult emotional terrain for each of them, and, ultimately, preserve the foster placement for Mara and the loving foster parents.

Children's Support Services

   Crisis Intervention Services

On very short notice, usually within two hours, a highly-trained crisis responder provides in-home and on-site intervention to disarm tense situations and bring calm with the goal of preventing a child's placement into an institutional care facility or psychiatric hospitalization. This is one of only a handful of programs of its kind serving needy children, youth and families in Orange County.

The team of responders, made up of therapists, therapeutic behavioral specialists, mentors and psychologists, excel in crisis intervention and de-escalation strategies essential for already at-risk children and families who suddenly find themselves facing a traumatic crossroads.

After responding in person, the crisis specialist maintains daily contact for up to five days and works closely with the family to design an intervention plan.

One of the most challenging scenarios to deal with is a foster family that has fallen into crisis. In these especially tough situations, South Coast Children's Society has so far achieved a 95% success rate in keeping the foster families together. This is the best possible outcome for the child and the foster parents, and even for the county and state social workers who work hard to find suitable foster homes for needy children.

   Mentoring Services

We also have developed an extensive mentoring program for children, youth and parents involved in our Group Home and Wraparound programs. It's a seven-day-a-week service and we've dialed in clear goals, approaches and objectives that have worked very well with our kids, parents and families, including:

Culturally relevant services to children, youth and families requiring a positive role model or instruction in life skills.
One to one services completely individualized for each child, youth or family, as well as a commitment to becoming strong advocates for each child, youth or family.
A focus on teaching socially acceptable ways of interacting with peers and adults, as well as ultra-practical living skills such as personal care, hygiene and wellness.
An extensive program for parents in the form of coaching and guidance in developing effective ways to deal with their child's challenging behaviors, as well as teaching general parenting skills.