Wayfinder Family Services

Wayfinder's Temporary Shelter Care program, also known as The Cottage, is a 10-day shelter on our Los Angeles campus for children, ages 0 through 17, who have just been removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect. These children need temporary refuge until they can be placed with family members or foster families. Our professional staff stabilize children in crisis so they are ready to transition to a placement. Wayfinder is one of only four agencies selected by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services to provide this service-and the only one that accepts infants and toddlers.

Wayfinder operates five Group Homes in single-family homes, each housing up to six children or six young adults with multiple, profound disabilities. Residents receive round-the-clock care. All group homes are conveniently located in the South Los Angeles neighborhood near the Wayfinder campus so that residents can attend the Special Education School, use Wayfinder's recreational facilities or receive care from our 24-hour medical center.

Mental Health offers therapy to children, youth, adults and families in our programs, including traumatized foster youth in The Cottage. Also, Wayfinder remains one of only a handful of organizations in the state that offers mental health services to people with disabilities. Our counselors help clients build skills to cope with vision loss, traumatic experiences, unstable environments, abuse, neglect and more. Wayfinder's community mental health services assist residents in need in Los Angeles, Butte and Shasta counties. Our mental health care in the community is focused on preventative services to help build resilient individuals and families.

Transition Services enables teenagers and young adults who are blind or visually impaired to explore careers and successfully transition to independent living, college or the workforce. The program offers virtual trainings and quarterly weekend workshops across California, and a four-week, in-person summer program in classrooms and dorms on the Cal State Los Angeles campus to increase workforce readiness and academic preparation.

Camp Bloomfield and Recreation: Wayfinder's Camp Bloomfield provides children and youth who are blind, visually impaired, multi-disabled with memorable experiences in the outdoors. The camp program offers activities adapted for children of all ages and abilities that develop self-esteem and build independence.Wayfinder offers empowering sports, recreation and outdoor adventures that are adapted for children and teens with disabilities.

Davidson Program for Independence on Wayfinder's Los Angeles campus and the Hatlen Center for the Blind in San Pablo in Northern California are comprehensive residential rehabilitation programs for adults ages 18 and older who are blind or visually impaired, many with recent vision loss. Participants learn assistive technology, orientation and mobility (white cane and safe travel), braille, and independent living skills. Each client pursues individualized goals that lead to a confident transition to an independent life and education or employment.Assistive Technology Training provides instruction on the latest assistive technology devices and software for success in today's job market to adults with vision loss, ages 18 and older.Employment Services teaches adults who are blind or visually impaired the skills they need to join or rejoin the workforce. Participants attend training on our L.A. campus, remotely, or in person in their homes. Clients receive assessments, training and job placement, as well as coaching and instruction in orientation and mobility to find and keep jobs. Clients emerge as competitive candidates in the workforce. Also, Wayfinder helps employers adapt workspaces to increase accessibility.Older Individuals who are Blind (OIB) provides adults ages 55+ who are visually impaired with training in areas like the use of assistive technology, orientation and mobility so they can care for themselves, live independently and navigate their community.

Strategic Initiatives: Initiative funds are used as seed funds for new programs or for the expansion of existing program. This year, initiative funds supported merger integration work, statewide impact efforts, data driven technology enhancements, and research of new funding opportunities.

Wayfinder's Special Education School offers children and youth, ages 5 to 22, who are visually impaired or have moderate-to-severe disabilities, a safe, positive environment for learning and growth. In the least restrictive environment in our state-certified, non-public school, teachers develop students' communication, mobility and functional skills to increase their independence.

Wayfinder's statewide Child Development Services provides early intervention in person or via telehealth to children birth to age 3 with vision impairment or multiple disabilities. Young children maximize any vision they have and reduce developmental delays. Parents learn to provide their child with therapeutic stimulation and to advocate for their child's education and care.

Public Education Program: Through public education, Wayfinder informs and educates students, families, professionals and community members about important issues surrounding disabilities and child welfare.

The Haven provides long-term foster care, a group home and family finding for children and youth, ages 0-17, who enter the country unaccompanied by family. Our staff offer child-centered, trauma-informed services to refugee children, who have complex, intertwined needs, including health, mental health, behavioral, developmental or physical disabilities. We increase children's stability while locating capable relatives or a foster family.

Wayfinder's Medical Center provides 24-hour services to children in our The Cottage, as well as children and young adults in Wayfinder's Group Homes and Special Education School. Many have complex, intertwined medical, mental health and behavioral needs, which our medical staff are adept at addressing. Medical department staff includes nurses and a psychiatrist, and we contract with a nurse practitioner, endocrinologist and behavioral psychologist.The Kinship Support Services Program supports grandparents, extended family members or close family friends who step up to raise children so they avoid the trauma of separation from their birth family. The program also assists kinship families that form voluntarily, without the assistance of a child welfare agency. Our program offers counseling, assistance with basic needs, support groups and workshops, respite resources and more.Our Family Finding Services search exhaustively for relatives or people close to children in foster care so they can establish supportive connections. "Upfront family finding" strives to locate relatives or family friends soon after a child is removed from the home, rather than the older model of finding connections when a youth is in danger of leaving foster care without family connections.Promoting Safe and Stable Families and Child and Family Development provide counseling and support services to prevent at-risk children from entering foster care. Parents whose children are in foster care receive Supervised Visitation and Coaching services to strengthen parenting and sustain family ties.