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Home > About Us
About Us
Lilliput Children's Services is a private, non-profit
agency licensed by the State of California.
We're Northern California's domestic adoption specialists,
completing more foster adoptions than any other private
California adoption agency. We are a leading Kinship Care
services provider in California.
We are committed to ensuring that every child is safe and nurtured
within a family who has a life-long commitment to the child. We
work with birth, foster, kinship, and adoptive families in communities
throughout Northern California.
Below you can find our Mission Statement
and history. You will find an overview
of who we serve and
where we serve. We've also listed some of our
accreditations, partnerships, & memberships
as well as a few bullet points
highlighting some of our recognitions.
If you're looking for contact information, office locations, staff,
Executive Staff, or Board of Directors, click on
Contact Us.
"To ensure a
child's opportunity for permanence in a safe and nurturing family."
Our Values
Vision, Integrity, Partnership, Excellence and Leadership
 Lilliput's
story began in 1980 with a vision held by one
social worker - Bill Fuser. After working in public child welfare
for over a decade, he believed that a higher quality of service
could be offered to foster children and families through a combined
effort between the public and private sector. Bill’s legacy was
founded upon the premise that children in out-of-home care deserve
to be placed with properly prepared and supported foster families
who are interested in caring for neglected and abused children for
as long as the children need them.
In 1989, Lilliput was one of the state’s
first foster family agencies to receive an adoption license,
thus allowing us to dually certify families for both
foster care and adoption.
This ensures that children who are placed in our families do not
linger in foster care if they are unable to return to their birth
families. Since then, the agency has placed more than 4,500
children into adoptive homes. Committed to helping
children and families thrive, Lilliput offers adoption and
post-adoption support
services to families.
Seeking to facilitate kinship adoptions, in 1995
Lilliput created a new adoption model by working
closely with California counties to provide adoption home studies
and support to relatives and foster parents wishing to adopt. To
further assist families raising kin, Lilliput launched the
Kinship Support Services Program
(KSSP) in November 2007. By supporting kinship
families, we strive to keep children safely within their extended
families and out of the child welfare system.
Today, 30+ years after opening our doors, Lilliput
has grown exponentially and has emerged as a locally and
nationally recognized leader in nonprofit child welfare.
Working in communities throughout California, we continually strive
to enhance the level of service offered to our most vulnerable
children—those in foster care, as well as those at risk of foster
placement. Our vision for the future remains focused on improving
the well-being of children and families through leadership in
innovative and collaborative partnerships. Our work today ensures a
better future for the generations to come.
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Lilliput serves children and families who are touched by
foster care, adoption and kinship care. Statewide, over
30,000 children are removed from their homes each year due to abuse
or neglect. When children are unable to safely return to their
birth parents, their healthy development is dependent upon finding
a committed and nurturing family.
Lilliput strives to ensure that children are able to remain
within the safety net of their extended family, when possible.
In many of the kinship families we serve, the grandparent or other
relative caregivers have voluntarily stepped forward to care for
their family member’s child. (Kinship
Care)
Lilliput also recruits and prepares families for the
placement of children who are unable to live with their
birth families. The families Lilliput works with are willing to
support a child’s plan to return to birth parents or extended
family while concurrently providing a home for as long as needed,
up to and including adoption. We significantly reduce the
trauma a child experiences by minimizing the number of moves
and time spent in out-of-home foster care.
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Lilliput has a statewide adoption license and provides foster care
services to children and families in 29 of California’s 58 counties
through our offices in Chico,
El Dorado Hills, Fairfield,
Granite Bay, Martinez,
Napa, Redding, Sacramento,
Sonora, and Stockton.
Kinship Support Services
and Post Adoption Services
are offered in many of these communities.
For more information on our locations and service areas, click on
Contact Us.
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Accreditations
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 California
Alliance As an accredited member of The California
Alliance of Child and Family Services, Lilliput demonstrates its
commitment to excellence and to improving the quality of care
and service provided to at-risk children and families. Alliance
member agencies serve as leaders in advocacy, planning, and
service delivery throughout the state of California and ascribe
to standards above and beyond the minimum standards
required by State Licensing. The
importance of accreditation in health care and education is
widely recognized; it is equally important in the area of
children and family services to seek services from accredited
agencies.
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The
Independent Charities Seal of Excellence is awarded to
the members of Independent Charities of America and Local
Independent Charities of America that have, upon rigorous
independent review, been able to certify, document, and
demonstrate on an annual basis that they meet the highest
standards of public accountability, program effectiveness, and
cost effectiveness. These standards include those required by
the US Government for inclusion in the Combined Federal
Campaign, probably the most exclusive fund drive in the world.
Of the 1,000,000 charities operating in the United States today,
it is estimated that fewer than 50,000, or 5 percent, meet or
exceed these standards, and, of those, fewer than 2,000 have
been awarded this Seal.
Partnerships
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Napa Valley Coalition of Nonprofit Agencies – The
Coalition affects public policy, strengthens the health and
human services forum and increases the quantity and quality of
services by means of their extensive membership and committee
structure. Membership includes all nonprofit organizations that
are working to improve the quality of life of Napa Valley
residents.
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Placer Collaborative Network - PCN
brings community leaders from over 40 Placer County
organizations together to develop creative solutions for change.
Change that brings about a better quality of life for those
living in the county.
National Memberships
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 NACAC (North
American Council on Adoptable Children) - NACAC members
are foster and adoptive parents, child welfare professionals,
adoptive parent support and advocacy groups, adoption agencies
such as Lilliput, and caring individuals committed to meeting
the needs of waiting children in North America.
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 Voice
for Adoption – As a member of this national
collaboration of child welfare organizations, we speak in a
single voice with policy makers, representing the interests of
foster children awaiting adoption and the families who adopt
them.
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 ICA (Independent Charities of America)–
Because
Lilliput adheres to the highest standards of accountability and
services, we have been certified as one of America's best
charities and is presented by ICA to donors in fund drives at
work and on the web.
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 LICA (Local Independent Charities of America)
– LICA represents
charitable organizations that specialize in areas such as
feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, protecting
children, healing the sick, and defending animals, as well as
helping to inform, educate, and empower people across the
nation.
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 GuideStar
Exchange – The GuideStar Exchange is an
initiative designed to connect nonprofits with current and
potential supporters. With millions of people coming to
GuideStar to learn more about nonprofit organizations, the
GuideStar Exchange allows nonprofits to share a wealth of
up-to-date information with GuideStar's vast on-line
audience of grantmakers and individual donors. Exchange
members are nonprofits that have updated their nonprofit
reports to the fullest—sharing information, documentation,
photos, and video with GuideStar's visitors.
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 CFC (Combined
Federal Campaign) – The mission of the CFC is to
promote and support philanthropy through a program that is
employee focused, cost-efficient, and effective in providing all
federal employees the opportunity to improve the quality of life
for all.
California
Memberships
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 CAAA (California Association of Adoption Agencies) - This
nonprofit, professional organization, consisting of 85 members,
represents licensed county and private adoption agencies in
California who recognize the importance of comprehensive and
lifelong services to adopted children, adult adoptees, birth
parents and adoptive parents.
Local Memberships
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 United Way
– Lilliput is proud to be a certified partner agency with the
California Capital Region of United Way. To qualify, we went
through a strenuous certification process to prove that we are
effective, transparent and dedicated to improving people’s lives
in our community. We are also a certified partner agency in the
Bay Area and
Northern California
regions.
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 Non-Profit
Resource Center – As a member, we are connected
to the local Sacramento nonprofit community in order to learn
more, do more, and make more of a difference.
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Chambers of
Commerce in El Dorado, Napa, Placer, Sacramento, San
Joaquin, Shasta, and Solano Counties. Cities include:
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El Dorado Hills
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Fairfield
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Napa
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Redding
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Roseville
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Sacramento
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Stockton
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Vacaville
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Vallejo
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 Karen Alvord, Executive Director
of Lilliput Children’s Services, was selected as a 2011 Angel in
Adoption Award recipient by Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-Sacramento).
Each year, members of Congress are given the opportunity to select individuals,
families and organizations from their home state who have demonstrated a
commitment to improving the lives of children in need of permanent, loving
homes. “Karen’s leadership and dedication has been instrumental in the
advancement of child welfare practices, working toward ensuring children a
secure and nurturing environment. She is truly one of Sacramento’s ‘angels,’ and
we are extremely lucky to have her in our community,” said Congresswoman
Matsui. Karen recently returned from Washington D.C. where she accepted this
honor. (Click here for full press release)
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 Lilliput is so proud to have been selected to receive an
Adoption Excellence Award from the
Children's Bureau/U.S. Department of Health and Human Services! The Department
honors those who have demonstrated excellence in providing stable, permanent
homes for our nation’s children in foster care. Lilliput is being recognized for
the development and implementation of strategies that have achieved a
significant decrease in the average length of stay in foster care.
Click here for the article covering the award! Click
here for additional information about agencies who have won
this award.
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 Jan Stohr Executive
Leadership Award was presented to Executive Director,
Karen Alvord, who was recognized as the region’s “best of the
best” Executive Director. Karen was honored at the Nonprofit
Resource Center’s annual “Look of Success” luncheon. (May 14,
2010)
- Foster Care Month -- California Capitol Kick-Off: Shasta
County and Lilliput Children’s Services were recognized for facilitating “foster sibling
connections.” (May 12, 2009)
- Operation Protect and Defend’s Robert T. Matsui
Award to Executive Director, Karen Alvord: Awarded
at American Bar Association Law Day Celebration Dinner.
Signifies Karen’s excellence in citizenship and the work of
Lilliput Children's Services. (May
7, 2009)
- Foster Care Month -- California Capitol Kick-Off:
The Sacramento Kinship Support Services Team was one of four
statewide public/private partnerships that were recognized for
their efforts at helping to usher in child welfare reform across
the state. (May 6, 2008)
- California Alliance of Child and Family Services:
Received accreditation through September 2010 along with
commendations in several areas.
(June 2006)
- Angel in Adoption Award to Executive Director, Bill Fuser
- Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute. (2003)
- Recognition for Teamwork in Post-Adoption
Services – Sacramento County (October
3, 2002)
- Non-Profit of the Year (Small Business Excellence
and Innovation) – Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce (June
8, 2001)
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