The Family Finding program in Fresno, California aims to reduce ethnic disparities in the child welfare system. It is funded by a $15 million grant from the California Endowment to address racial inequities. The program seeks to shorten the time ethnic children spend in foster care by reconnecting them with lost family members and building support systems before they age out of the system. This is intended to improve outcomes for foster youth by providing employment opportunities and relationships to prevent early pregnancy and criminal involvement.

1. Family Finding Program

2.  Although we are Department of Social
Services for Fresno, the Family Finding unit is
made up of Five employees and two interns.
Our program is funded through the California
Endowment Grant. $15 million was granted
to the Fresno Area to dig deep and study
every aspect of what causes the disparities
to exist, and try to implement new policy to
alleviate racisms within the structures of
how policy has been written to better serve
minority societies.

3.  Minoritiesespecially African Americans and
American Indians show outraging
disproportion and disparities in the child
welfare system in Fresno, California as well
as the United States. Our goal is to reduce
ethnic disproportions and disparities for
ethnic groups until it no longer exist.

4.  Students will learn why Family Finding has
come into existence in September of this
year
 Students will know who funds Family Finding
and why
 Students will understand the importance of
Family finding within this community

5.  Upon reading this powerpoint students will
understand the importance of family finding
as it pertains to Child Protective Services in
Fresno California.

6.  Family Finding work with every entity that
pertain to Department of Social Services. We
do not have assigned cases, but we monitor
any case that has an ethnic child involved.
We take into account of when an emergency
response call come in and a hold is placed on
a child and continue throughout the child’s
entire experience in the system, to
understand what can we do to shorten the
experience for the child.

7.  Furthermore we do what our name says, and
find lost members of long term placement
ethnic children in foster care.

8.  Our target population are ethnic foster youth
in long term care
 When foster youth emancipate from the
system the have very limited resources
 Girls usually become pregnant before the age
19
 Boys have a %50 percent rate of going to
prison before age 24
 Only %3 of foster youth obtain a bachelor’s
degree

9.  We aim to attack the percentages.
 We reconnect foster youth with their families
before they leave the system
 This assists youth in employment because we
tend to get jobs through people we
know, and who better than family
 This assist with fighting early pregnancy as
females will have safe shelter to achieve
goals in life
 Males will have role models and a support
system to lean on

10.  Ourpractice model is still in the making as
we came into existence in September of this
year. As an intern I am fortunate to be able
to assist with the process.

11. The significance of this agency in terms of social
justice, social work values and human rights
 The significance of Family Finding in terms of
social justice is to combat structural racism.
We see impoverished communities failing to
mobilize through flawed policy. Low income
units are placed in the worse school districts
with the highest rate of crime because there
are no jobs. There are no banks. Disease is
higher due to living conditions. The people
who live in these areas are blamed for the
condition they are born in. But as policy
makers we keep them there! Family Finding
goal is to break this cycle.

12.  Who funds the Family Finding unit in
Fresno, California?
 Who are the Family Finding target
populations?
 What are the goals of Family Finding?