About the Nonprofit
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Five Acres' mission is to promote safety, well-being and permanency for children and their families by building on their strengths and empowering them within communities.
Since 1888, Five Acres has protected the most vulnerable members of our community: children. Originally founded in downtown Los Angeles as an orphanage, Five Acres was initially created to offer safety to children who had no home. In time, our mission expanded to also focus on the well-being and mental health of our clients who were increasingly coming to us as a result of abuse or neglect.
Having grown to an agency caring for more than 6,500 children and family members annually across six counties, we now strive for permanency—a permanent, loving home—for all children in our care. The three pillars of safety, well-being and permanency provide the framework for all our programs and will guide our steps as we develop even more effective means of caring for children and families in crisis.
Designated as a Family Resource Center, Five Acres is recognized as “an entity providing family-centered and family-strengthening services that are embedded in communities, culturally sensitive, and include cross-system collaboration to assist in transforming families and communities through reciprocity and asset development based on impact-driven and evidence-informed approaches with the goal of preventing child abuse and neglect and strengthening children and families.” Source: California Welfare & Institutions Code Section 18951(g)
Safety
Since 1888, children’s safety has been the bedrock on which our programs are founded. Through mental health and behavioral health counseling, Five Acres addresses and heals the trauma that affects children and their families so that kids can grow and thrive within a loving family.
Well-being
Healthy families are more likely to remain intact and enjoy a greater level of well-being. Five Acres believes families stay together when they are provided with essential prevention and intervention resources for success. Our Community-Based Specialty Services keep families safe and together by focusing on the parent/child relationship through family communication and problem solving. If the child is in foster care, our goal is to facilitate family reunification and provide family stabilization. These outpatient services, which treat youth to adults of all ages for a span of three to fourteen months, offer personalized treatment sessions.
Permanency
Five Acres actively strives to provide stability by connecting children to safe, permanent and loving families. With the chance to stay in a caring home, children are able to rebuild their sense of belonging and grow.
Residential
Our Residential Services are structured to serve children ages six through eighteen years old who are experiencing a higher level of emotional and behavioral challenges that cannot be supported safely within a home environment and require around-the-clock supervision. We provide mental health services in a safe, nurturing, residential-based setting for clients to stabilize these high-risk behaviors to successfully transition back into a home setting.
The program focuses on family-centered care within a goal-oriented framework. Each client’s history is considered as a factor for treatment. Experiences are designed to be trauma-informed, therapeutic, and planned to meet the diagnosed needs of the client and their family members.
Five Acres also works with the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and the Department of Mental Health to serve children who are in need of shelter and care.