Tuesday's Charity: The Alliance for Children's Rights

Today's charity organization is one that is doing some amazing work in LA County. The Alliance for Children's Rights is protecting the rights and futures of abused and impoverished children. Through direct legal services, community education, and advocacy, The Alliance's diverse programs are not only serving the immediate needs of children and families, they are also helping to create systemic change that will protect the future of children for generations to come.

Founded in 1992, The Alliance has helped more than 80,000 children throughout Los Angeles County: children who are living in foster care, children with learning disabilities, children who need medical treatment or public benefits, and children in need of legal guardianship or adoption.

The amazing thing about this organization is that the founders are primarily lawyers but, contrary to many, these lawyers saw a terrible injustice and did something about it, rather than making money off of it.

Some of the programs include:

Foster Care Adoption
With the help of an army of dedicated pro bono attorneys, The Alliance completes nearly 1/3 of all foster care adoptions in L.A. The Alliance connects with the adoptive families as early as possible to identify any psychological, health, or educational needs of the child to avoid unnecessary delays in the adoption. The Adoption Day program, introduced by The Alliance and its partners in 1997, is the model for National Adoption Day, now celebrated in all 50 states.

Legal Guardianship 

Throughout Los Angeles, more than 300,000 children live with a relative or friend because their parents are unable or unwilling to care for them. Without a legal relationship, caregivers who are willing to be there for these kids are limited in their ability to protect and provide for them.

The Alliance helps caregivers become legal guardians of the children in their care so that they can take them to the doctor, enroll them in school and obtain financial assistance to better provide them a secure, stable life.
Health Care

Children in foster care or living in poverty face tremendous challenges and barriers accessing health care. The instability of their home lives and frequent placement changes make accessing consistent, quality medical care nearly impossible. The Alliance assists children facing Medi-CAL eligibility problems, treatment denials, and those unable to find medical or mental health providers.

Alliance staff also conduct trainings about the health care needs and rights of impoverished children for medical and social service providers as well as caregivers and group homes.
Other programs include Public Benefits, Special Education and Transitioning Youth, to name a few. If you have an interest in this organization, or others like it, go check out their website at www.kids-alliance.org

Have a great Tuesday everyone.