Penny Lane Centers Renews Partnership with RaiseAChild.US
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) October 23, 2013 -- Penny Lane Centers proudly announces its renewed partnership with RaiseAChild.US, a nonprofit that encourages the LGBT community to build families through fostering and adoption. The agency has conducted special outreach to the LGBT community since receiving a certification from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s "All Children - All Families" (ACAF) initiative, which provides professional training and technical assistance to foster care and adoption agencies that want to welcome and support LGBT foster and adoptive parents.
"We are delighted to continue our productive partnership with RaiseAChild.US," says Ive Markovits, Founder & CEO of Penny Lane Centers. "Utilizing the expertise the organization provides us allows us to reach so many more LGBT families, which in turn permits us to better serve our waiting children."
Penny Lane Centers was founded in 1969 and cares for abused and neglected children and youth by providing therapeutic residential services and education for teenagers, foster family home placements, adoption services, transitional housing for young adults and outpatient mental health services for children and youth.
"We are proud to celebrate our third annual partnership with Penny Lane Centers," says Rich Valenza, Founder and CEO of RaiseAChild.US. "When we send our prospective parents to Penny Lane, we know they will be well taken care of, and that the agency will work them to help permanent, safe and loving homes for children."
According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Administration for Children & Families, there are 400,000 children in our nation’s foster care system. More than 104,000 of these children are available and waiting to be adopted. Families certified for either foster or adoptive placements are in short supply.
According to 2010 U.S. Census data, children are being raised in over one million LGBT-headed households. While LGBT parents may encounter resistance from child welfare workers in some communities across the U.S., California law provides children who are in need of loving parents equal access to foster and adoptive families, regardless of the sexual orientation of the parents.
RaiseAChild.US works closely with the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s "All Children – All Families" (ACAF) initiative. To date, ACAF includes nearly 70 participating agencies across the country and has awarded 30 seals of recognition.
RaiseAChild.US campaigns welcome and support prospective LGBT parents while putting images of LGBT families into public spaces through PSAs, print media, and outdoor advertising. Since 2011, RaiseAChild.US has engaged more than 1,400 prospective parents nationally and become a leading organization for public education and advocacy on behalf of the 400,000 children awaiting foster and adoptive homes. For more information, visit RaiseAChild.US.
Corinne Lightweaver, Raise A Child Inc., http://www.RaiseAChild.US, +1 (323) 417-1440, [email protected]
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