Orange County FLOCers

Overview of The Raise Foundation
Since 1974 the goal of The Raise Foundation has been to prevent child abuse by strengthening families. By collaborating with other family-serving agencies we maximize impact while reducing duplication of services.  We provide resources to build better parents, who in turn, will build better kids, and together build a better community. With over 38,000 cases of reported child abuse and neglect in the county in 2010, it is clear that prevention programs and services such as those offered by The Raise Foundation continue to be desperately needed in every Orange County community!

Our Mission
The Raise Foundation is dedicated to stopping the cycle of abuse through education, advocacy, community collaboration, and comprehensive services for families and children.

The Raise Foundation is Orange County’s Child Abuse Prevention Council as officially designated by the Orange County Board of Supervisors (Resolution No. 74-492) in 1974. This is in keeping with the California Welfare and Institutions Code (Section 18982) which requires every county to have a child abuse prevention council.

We became incorporated as a private non-profit 501(c)(3) agency in 1987 under the name The Child Abuse Prevention Council of Orange County. In 1999, we changed our name to Prevent Child Abuse – Orange County. We became The Raise Foundation. Better parents. Better kids. ^TM in 2003.

In Strengthening Families: A Guidebook for Early Childhood Programs, the Center for the Study of Social Policy identifies five “protective factors” that appear to reduce the occurrence in families of child maltreatment (Center for the Study of Social Policy,Strengthening Families: A Guidebook for Early Childhood Programs, Second Edition, July 2007). The protective factors are:

1. Parental resilience
2. An array of social connections
3. Adequate knowledge of parenting and development
4. Concrete support in times of need, including access to necessary services, such as mental health
5. Social and emotional competence of children

This research-based approach to reducing child abuse has been our guide in the development of all of our programs.

We use varied approaches to fight child abuse on every level here in Orange County .  Our delivery methods include:

• The Child Abuse Prevention Council
• Public Awareness & Community Support
• Training for Professionals in the field
• Family Resource Centers
• Parent Education
• Health Access
• The Caring for Kids Community – Basic Needs Assistance
• Resources in Motion