About
Orangewood PALS -
Orangewood Children's Foundation
Orangewood PALS
(Providing Assistance, Love and Support) is a group of young
professionals eager to become involved with the issues of child abuse
in the community and provide future leadership to the Orangewood
Foundation. PALS is governed by a Board of twelve directors,
each with particular areas of responsibility. Their main goals as an
organization are to provide activities and to raise funds for the
children of the Orangewood Children's Home. This is
a young, chic, dynamic group and all of their events are top notch and
very well attended.
On average, nearly
27,000 cases of child abuse are reported each year in Orange County. Of
these, about 10% or approximately 2,700 children are taken from their
caregivers due to unsafe conditions. These children are placed
temporarily at Orangewood
Children's Home. Many
have experienced the most serious forms of physical and sexual abuse.
Now
wards of the County and State systems, many of these children spend the
rest of their childhood in foster care or group care homes. Of special
concern is that, at the age of 18, teenagers living in foster care
suddenly find themselves on their own - emancipated - from the
dependency system. Without a traditional system of family support in
place, many are unprepared for the challenges of adulthood. Most lack
the experience they need or resources to pay for basic necessities and
are at high risk of becoming homeless, incarcerated or victimized.
Orangewood
Children's Foundation is working on long-term solutions to these issues.
Programs offering emergency assistance, job placement, transitional
housing, peer counseling, and scholarships for college or vocational
training give these children the chance to succeed, despite their
painful pasts. Orangewood helps get these kids started on the
right
path.
More information on
Orangewood PALS and Orangewood Children's Foundation and the good works
they do is at www.OrangewoodFoundation.org
and www.OrangewoodPALS.org
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