Alliance For Children's Rights
Protecting the rights of young people.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
The Alliance seeks to redress obstacles faced by children and families in foster care and those seeking guardianship in order to secure the services, supports, developmental therapies and educational accommodations they need in order to recover and thrive. Through our advocacy, we also identify systemic issues and work to introduce new laws, policies and practices that will better support those in the child welfare system.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Adoption and Guardianship
The Alliance provides free legal services to families in Los Angeles County adopting from foster care and to those seeking legal guardianship. The Alliance finalizes one-third of all adoptions out of foster care in Los Angeles County for children and young adults who often have waited years for a permanent home. We also created National Adoption Day, now celebrated in all 50 states, and we are the only non-profit organization in Los Angeles County that finalizes adoptions of youth who are 18 or older and in extended foster care.
Benefits and Healthcare Program
We represent caregivers in foster care, guardianship and adoption benefits matters to ensure that they are receiving the support they need to meet the needs of the children in their care. A major focus of this program is helping families receive additional funding for children who require increased care due to medical, behavioral, and/or developmental needs. In addition, we help caregivers when DCFS does not approve their homes in a timely manner, or refuses to approve their homes at all, rendering them ineligible for foster care funding. We also help non-minor dependents (young adults in extended foster care between the ages of 18 and 21) access funding to which they are entitled.
In addition to handling individual cases, our benefits team works closely with our policy team to identify and address systemic benefits issues affecting LA County youth and caregivers.
Education Program
The Education Program advocates for children who are struggling in school because of developmental delays, disabilities and behavioral issues, often due to their history of abuse and neglect. In 2008, the Early Intervention Advocacy Center was launched as a pilot program, and today ensures that underserved foster infants and toddlers 0-5 years old with developmental delays and behavioral issues have access to interventions to help them overcome their differences by the time they enter school.
Transition-Age Youth Services
Each year, we serve more than 1000 young people who are aging out of the foster care system by helping them to overcome barriers to education, employment, housing and healthcare in order to achieve self-sufficient adulthood. For youth too disabled to work, we help them obtain Supplemental Security Insurance benefits and Medi-Cal prior to aging out of the system, protecting them from becoming homeless. The Alliance co-sponsored AB 12, The CA Fostering Connections to Success Act. This landmark legislation became law on January 1, 2012 and provides eligible youth with extended foster care to age 21.
Where we work
Awards
4 Star 2019
CharityNavigator.org
External reviews

Photos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of clients served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Number of foster care children placed with a family that were formally adopted
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Our vision is a world in which all children have safe, stable homes and families, with the support they need to thrive.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
We provide free legal advocacy in the following areas: education, benefits, guardianship, healthcare, transition age youth services, and expecting and parenting youth services. When we identify a recurring problem in the lives of our clients, we seek systemic solutions to continually reform and improve our child welfare system.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Our staff of 54 is supplemented by an extensive pro bono network of 600 attorneys from top firms across Los Angeles. We also have a full-time policy team of four located in the State Capitol to work with agencies and legislators on systemic solutions.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We have served more than 150,000 children and completed more than 14,000 adoptions from foster care. In the last year alone, we provided services for 1862 transition-age youth who are aging out of foster care, completed 1,194 adoptions from foster care, obtained supportive benefits for 804 children, secured education services for 1,086, assisted 384 caregivers in attaining guardianship, and helped 321 children access healthcare.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Paper surveys, Focus groups or interviews (by phone or in person), Case management notes,
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups,
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With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Alliance For Children's Rights
Board of directorsas of 06/01/2022
Alan Epstein
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
Term: 2017 -
Dena Cook
Age of Learning
Term: 2017 -
Steven A. Marenberg
Paul Hastings LLP
James P. Clark
Arbitrator/Mediator
Susan F. Friedman
Producer/Director
Clifford W. Gilbert-Lurie
Ziffren Brittenham LLP
Leslie Gilbert-Lurie
Author, Human Rights Advocate, and Attorney
Barbara Grushow
Barbara Grushow Designs
Jo Kaplan
Commissioner, Los Angeles County Probation
Mitchell Kaplan
Kaplan Stahler Agency
Karen Mack
Author and Producer
Gary Newman
Attention Capital
Mary Ritti
Communications Advisor
Phillip Ruldolph
Jack in the Box (ret.)
José F. Sanchez
Deloitte Global
Toni M. Schulman
Child Advocate
Alex G. Romain
Milbank LLP
Trent Copeland
Law Offices of Trent Copeland
Bradley Ross
Bemel Ross LLP
Chris B. Walther
Activision Blizzard
Robert J. Woolway
FocalPoint Partners, LLC
Bruce Rosenblum
Susan Saltz
Child Advocate and Film Producer
Matthew Babrick
First Republic Investment
Dena Cook
Reinvent Capital
Scott A. Edelman
Gibson Dunn
Alan J. Epstein
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
E. Martin Estrada
Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP
Andrew D. Garelick
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Kris Spazafumo
Capital Group
Silvia Vannini
O'Melveny & Myers LLP
Alex Fixmer
The Walt Disney Company
Karey Burke
20th Television
Manuel Cachán
Proskauer Rose LLP
Rick Rosen
WME
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data