Roots & Wings

At its essence, the intent of the Santa Cruz County Roots & Wings initiative, a project of the County of Santa Cruz Human Services Department, is to follow the adage "give a child roots to grow and wings to fly" by creating opportunities for children to develop strong roots in families and communities.

In order to build these fundamentals for children, the Roots & Wings initiative has three central goals:

• Recruit concurrent and adoptive resource families who are reflective of children in foster care
• Ensure resource families are satisfied with services and support
• Ensure children are transitioned to a permanent home in a timely manner
   

The initiative strives to reach these goals through:

• General, targeted and child-specific recruitment for concurrent and adoptive families
• Development and support of resource families
• Carrying out practices in the child welfare system that promote permanent homes for children
   

The initiative is being implemented through partnerships with local community organizations by a team of child welfare managers and contracted individuals who conduct recruitment. This comprehensive model of recruiting and providing support for concurrent and adoptive families is also being documented so information can be shared across counties and states.

Project Highlights and Products

• Press Coverage: Article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel titled “Forever family: Parents pledge a lifelong bond at adoption ceremony”
• Presentation: Roots & Wings 2008 grantee kick-off meeting presentation
• Presentation: Roots & Wings spring 2010 grantees meeting presentation (PDF - 110 KB)
   

For more information about the Roots and Wings, contact Program Manager Melissa Delgadillo at Melissa.Delgadillo@hsd.co.santa-cruz.ca.us or at 831.454.4286.