Children and Family Services

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:

• Orange County District Attorney's Office 

• Orange County Health Care Agency

• Orange County Child Abuse Prevention Center

• Orange County Law Enforcement Jurisdictions 

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.