Children and Family Services Programs

Initiatives and Programs

Child Abuse Services Team (CAST)

The Child Abuse Services Team (CAST)

  • Conducts multidisciplinary child abuse investigations and forensic interviews.
  • Reduces the distress of the investigation process to victims of child sexual abuse, severe physical abuse, and special interest cases.
  • Limits the trauma to the child.
  • Results in more timely, thorough and consistent investigations.

CAST is a public-private collaboration that is led by the Social Services Agency and includes:

Court Appointed Special Advocates

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) is a private, nonprofit organization responsible for training and supervising community volunteers that:

  • Develop and maintain one-to-one relationships with dependent children.
  • Are appointed by the Juvenile Court to work with specific children the court has determined would benefit from CASA services.
  • Are supervised by CASA’s professional staff.

Families and Communities Together (FaCT)

Families and Communities Together (FaCT)

  • A partnership between Orange County Social Services Agency and the Orangewood Children’s Foundation.
  • FaCT Family Resource Centers (FRC’s):
    • Provide family-friendly, community-based services.
    • Facilitate access to comprehensive, integrated, prevention and treatment-oriented, social, educational, and health services, for all families, including birth, blended, kinship, adoptive, and foster families.

Wraparound

  • Partners with families.
  • Encourages and supports children’s abilities to remain in safe and stable homes.
  • Utilizes a strength-based, family-centered, team-driven approach.
  • Targets children that:
    • display serious emotional and behavioral issues; and,
    • are placed or at risk of being placed in Residential Care Level (RCL) 10-14 group homes.

Please contact Cheryl Grimsley, at (714) 940-5610, for more information about Wraparound.

Multi- Disciplinary Consultation Team (MDCT)

  • A multidisciplinary collaboration including representatives from:
    • Orange County Social Services Agency (SSA)
    • Orange County Health Care Agency (HCA)
    • Orange County Probation
    • Orange County Department of Education
  • Works with families and children that are not dependents of the Juvenile Court
  • Reduces the need for protective custody and out-of-home placements
  • Coordinates available services to help stabilize and strengthen families.

For more information, please contact Vanessa Montalvo, at (714) 940-5613, or Shannon Hickman, at (714) 940-5617.