"Changing Lives... One Heart at a Time"
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"Changing Lives... One Heart at a Time"
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Organization Online Fax:
1-801-203-5538 Contacts: Drew Kratz drew@impactinghearts.org * Call Drew directly at 310-780-9876   IHF Logo Design by Shelley Burnett |
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 IHF Joins the Faith-Based Council in South Bay 
Purpose: To address how congregations and faith-based organizations can assist in supporting the most vulnerable children in our community - those that have experienced abuse/neglect and living in foster care as well as those who are at risk of entering the foster care system.
Goals: 
The Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) is one of the largest child welfare departments in the country. The DCFS is comprised of 17 offices that are located throughout Los Angeles County. DCFS currently serves approximately 38,000 children, 21,000 of which are placed in foster care.
The DCFS mission is that we, with our community partners, will provide a comprehensive child protection system of child abuse prevention, preservation of the family whenever it is possible and safe to do so, and permanency to ensure that children grow up safe, physically and emotionally healthy, educated and in permanent homes. The majority of the children are referred to us due to general neglect (31.1%) and physical abuse (17.5%). Other reasons include sexual abuse (7.3%), emotional abuse (8.3%), and severe neglect (1.1%). We serve children from birth through 21 years of age, with 50% Hispanic, 33% African-American, 13% Caucasian, and 1% Native American. While the majority of our children who are removed from their home due to safety reasons are placed with their relatives (11,000), we have 8,000 placed in foster homes and 1,700 placed in group homes. The DCFS currently have 15,262 children who are living in long term foster care, meaning they do not have a legal permanent plan of legal guardianship or adoption. One of our primary goals is to assure that we provide each child with a permanent home to call their own. If a permanent home is not available, then we try to find at least one consistent, caring, positive adult who wants to be involved in the child's life. In order to fulfill this need, the DCFS Torrance office has led the effort in creating the South Bay Mentoring Project, where we work with existing mentoring programs to provide mentorships for our most vulnerable, at-risk children - those living in foster homes that have no attachments to one particular caregiver. Research has shown the benefits of mentoring, including increased achievement at school, reduced teen pregnancies, and diversion from delinquent activity. The DCFS Torrance office is motivated to partner with organizations such as Impacting Hearts, as we need community support in responding to the needs of foster children. The DCFS foster children continue to be in great need of positive activities that will help increase their self-esteem, positive interactions with adults that models healthy, respectful relationships, as well as life experiences that educate our children on their strengths that they can build upon in order to become successful, independent adults. 
 Who We Are... An entirely volunteer run non-profit organization dedicated to building relationships and mentoring youths for a brighter future full of hope and love! |
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