LGBTQ+ mothers helping their daughter on an iPad

Adoption & Adoption Promotion Support Services

In addition to foster care services, Five Acres supports our foster families and adoptive families in the community throughout the adoption continuum.

Adoption Promotion and Support Services (APSS) provides support to children and adoptive families to nurture lifetime commitments, ensure permanency for children, expedite the adoption process, and reduce adoption disruption. Services are available to all eligible children and adoptive families referred by the Los Angeles County Department of Child and Family Services.

Additional support services include:

  • Adoption Focused Therapy — Five Acres offers therapy to strengthen family relationships, stabilize and maintain placements, work through past traumas, and help children succeed in school, the community, and in permanent families.
  • Adoption Support Groups — Support groups are designed to connect families with one another while educating and supporting them through the adoption journey. Five Acres offers groups to caregivers, teens, and children. Five Acres also offers adoption training to the community on an ongoing basis.
  • Parent Education & Community Training — Parent education provides caregivers with information about the core themes of permanency and adoption-specific parenting techniques. Additionally, Five Acres offers adoption trainings to the community on an ongoing basis.
  • Case Management Services — Every family referred to APSS is matched with a Case Manager who walks alongside them during their adoption journey. Those providing case management services meet with the family monthly to work toward adoption-specific goals and link them to important services within the community.
  • Mentor Program — What makes our mentorship program unique? Our APSS mentors are all former foster youth, adoptees, or adoptive parents. The APSS Mentor Program connects children and adults with a mentor who can relate to them. Together, they build a lasting and meaningful relationship.

Mentor Program

Sometimes the best support comes from someone who has walked in your shoes. The Five Acres Adoption Promotion and Support Services Mentor Program connect parents and children with a mentor who has also experienced adoption. Through spending time together on a monthly basis, mentors and mentees develop strong, meaningful relationships. To learn more, click here.

If you have experienced adoption as a parent or a child, please consider joining our mentor team today. You’ll make a lasting impact in the lives of children and families in our Adoption Promotion and Support Services program!

For more information, please contact Jill Mattinson-Cruz: jmattinson-cruz@5acres.org | (626) 379-6731

 

To receive APSS services please contact the Los Angeles County DCFS Children’s Social Worker (if applicable).  If you have any general questions, please call Jill Mattinson-Cruz: jmattinson-cruz@5acres.org | (626) 379-6731

ACAF Welcome Seal 2021