Coming Together, Achieving More!

The Children and Families Coalition of Orange County strives for an equitable child welfare system, partnering with national and local organizations to integrate anti-racism practices. Collaborating with the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP), the Coalition applies an Anti-Racism Intersectional Frame to the Strengthening Families approach. This includes emphasizing culturally relevant practices and addressing implicit biases.

Additionally, the Coalition supports the Alliance for Racial Equity in Child Welfare, which identifies and addresses harmful policies and practices affecting children and families of color. Through research, policy advocacy, and community engagement, they aim to shift the child welfare system towards anti-racist principles.

The Coalition, in collaboration with the National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI), focuses on addressing racial disparities within the child welfare system. This includes promoting cultural competence training, recruiting foster families reflective of children's backgrounds, and reducing racial disproportionality in services.

Lastly, the Coalition partners with the Mental Health Equity Collaborative of Orange County to advocate for policy and systems changes in mental health care services, ensuring they are responsive to community needs and promoting collaboration between relevant advisory groups.

The Coalition is working to bring current child abuse prevention efforts in Orange County to scale to match the level of need. This includes increasing the capacity of the FaCT network of Family Resource Centers (FRCs), optimizing the utilization Neighbor to Neighbor Network (N2N) and Neighborhood Resources (NRN) programs, and adding additional prevention strategies. We support SSA efforts, working in coordination with HCA, to increase substance use disorder treatment for parents and other mental health treatment for children.

 PATH CITED is a statewide initiative to strengthen the infrastructure and capacity of community-based organizations (CBOs) in delivering equitable, community-driven care. This project supports the transition, expansion, and development of CalAIM Enhanced Care Management (ECM), Community Supports (CS), and the integration of Community Health Workers (CHWs) to improve health outcomes across underserved communities.

CFCOC has been funded to support 15 CBOs in Orange County as they build the capacity to become ECM and/or CS providers. We lead a community learning workgroup to foster shared learning, peer collaboration, and trauma-informed implementation.

As both a PATH CITED grant recipient and an approved Technical Assistance (TA) Marketplace Vendor, CFCOC is uniquely positioned to provide guidance and infrastructure support to other organizations navigating CalAIM transformation efforts.

 Every Family HVC is a collaborative initiative designed to expand culturally responsive and equitable home visiting services for underrepresented racial and ethnic communities, as well as families of children with disabilities, in Orange County. Grounded in the evidence-based Healthy Families America (HFA) model, this program provides in-home coaching and compassionate support to strengthen parent-child relationships, foster healthy development, and promote emotional resilience from the earliest stages of life.

Through personalized home visits, families receive tailored support including parenting education, pre- and postnatal assessments, developmental and behavioral screenings, postpartum depression screenings, and seamless connections to community-based care and services. The program emphasizes early intervention, behavioral health, and caregiver well-being—helping families navigate systems of care with confidence and dignity.

By centering cultural humility and caregiver support, Every Family HVC empowers families to create nurturing home environments where all children can grow and thrive.

 The mission of ECOC is to cultivate strong partnerships and community connections to advance the Early Childhood Policy Framework, using our collective strengths to improve outcomes for young children and their families.

Our work centers on advocacy, implementation, and dissemination of the Framework, with a focus on equity and inclusion. By collaborating with communities and systems leaders, ECOC aims to uplift fair, responsive policies and practices that ensure all children and families have full access to the opportunities and support they need to thrive.

CFCOC partners in the EiOC Disabilities Population Health Collective and Advocacy for People with Disabilities: by supporting the expansion of Orange County Disabilities Coalition (OCDC) by recruiting partners and the retention of existing OCDC partners; this project focuses on increasing the capacity for advocacy by OCDC and parents of children with disabilities as well as increasing the data collected related to children’s disabilities and provide support in building the capacity of the disability community of Orange County to engage in individual and systems advocacy.

• ACEs Trauma Informed Network of Care project: CFCOC selected a consortium of CBO partners in Orange County, funded by an ACEs Aware Implementation Grant Round 2, to work together to expand capabilities for conducting closed-loop referrals across the healthcare and social service ecosystem. CFCOC supported the structuring and formalizing relationships and protocols across organizations to improve the provision of services in response to ACEs utilizing PDSAs and community learning workgroups. We collaborated to develop and implement a plan to create and test strategies to integrate Medi-Cal providers and practices with buffering resources and organizations. This also involved assessing and documenting current breakdowns in the system of care concerning coordination and referrals, as well as the impact on community members and organizations. Lastly, we participated in defining an ideal system of care that includes adequate coordination for effective delivery of services for holistic community member needs. 
• ACEs Resource Cards: CFCOC also piloted an ACEs project with the American Academy of Pediatrics of Orange County (AAP-OC) utilizing an ACEs resource card to support pediatric clinics screening for ACEs and families facing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in Orange County. Often, pediatricians are unaware of or do not have time built into their schedule to fully address the need for making referrals that will provide buffering services. Moreover, pediatricians may hesitate to conduct ACEs or PEARLS screenings if they cannot refer their patients to services or programs to address their needs. As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting the well-being of families in Orange County, we introduced the ACEs Resource Card featuring the ocfindhelp.com closed-loop referral platform and includes links to the aap-oc.com website and 211 supportive services. Pediatricians screen patients for ACEs and provide appropriate referrals through ocfindhelp.com. The ACEs resource card will serve as an additional resource, empowering families to directly access buffering services and community resources while awaiting specialized services. 
• ACEs PRACTICE Project: Increases the workforce and services needed for primary care clinics to expand and sustain screening and the response to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress in local communities. In the ACEs PRACTICE Round 3 project with CHOC as the lead,      CFCOC focused on strengthening partnerships among community health centers, clinics, CBOs, and Medi-Cal managed care plans to screen for ACEs and provide community resources. CFCOC developed and facilitated a quality improvement process using FindHelp.org as a closed-loop referral system. This included supporting collaborative learning sessions using a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) approach. This resulted in 1) Identifying areas for improvement to more systemically reach underserved populations; 2) Clarifying available and missing community resources; 3) Refining the referral pipeline; and 4) Creating a screening and close-looped referral workflow that all providers, including small community-based providers, could sustain. Our gap analysis created resource mapping of Trauma Informed Network of Care (TINoC) participation and clinical and CBO supports. This mapping and data review helped to inform decisions on the next steps regarding the growth of the TINoC. 

Partner Organizations

• AAP-OC
• FaCT Orange County FRCs: Anaheim-Independencia FRC, CHEC FRC, Manzanita Park FRC, South Orange County FRC, Stanton FRC
• Boys and Girls Club of Laguna Beach
• Children's Cause OC
• Community Action Partnership of Orange County
• Early Childhood Orange County
• Family Support Network
• Human Options
• Mission Hospital/Providence/St. Joseph
• Olive Crest - Neighbor to Neighbor Program
• Public Law Center
• Start Well OC
• The RAISE Foundation
• UCI Medical Students Community Learning Partnership
• USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
• YMCA of Orange County

Our Native Community Power Building Initiative focuses on underserved populations, including American Indian, Alaskan Native, Native American, and Indigenous communities, by improving the integration of services in Orange County through an equity, access, and quality frame. We have included and valued community members and people with lived experience in programs and program decisions (e.g., child welfare system, FFPSA, CalOptima) and strengthened the “universal voice” for change across multiple providers. We focus on engaging community members of the Native communities in Orange County as partners to advocate and make decisions that support our efforts to advance health equity. Our Native Community power-building project creates spaces for promoting diverse voices within this community, improving the integration of services based on equity, access, inclusion, and quality. Lastly, our goal is to increase their capacity for doing equity work and addressing social determinants of health in their approach.

Partner Organizations

• Sacred Path
• Native American United Methodist Church of South California

CFCOC has provided Technical Assistance for MECCA’s MultiEthnic CalWORKs Home Visiting Services: CFCOC identifies or develops training for home visiting staff and subcontractors; assists in operational details of the program as needed to advance its implementation; assists with father engagement strategies in MECCA home visiting and engaging families at every stage as partners in building home visiting services. We also support building trusting relationships with the SSA funder that displays credibility; assist with establishing and positioning the MECCA Home Visiting Program and connecting with all early intervention services, early care, and education, maternal health providers and stakeholders, Family Resource Centers, SSA, and HCA child abuse prevention stakeholders; and assist in building collaborative partnerships throughout the network of care in Orange County. Another focus is to advocate locally and statewide for policies and investments that remove barriers to access and engagement, elevate quality, and advance equity.