FAMILIES : Sources for Help and Information on Families

There are scores of services and books that deal with families and family alternatives. A few of them:

SOCIAL SERVICES

* ADOPTION / FOSTER CARE

Aviva Center

1701 Camino Palermo, Los Angeles 90046.

(213) 876-0550

Provides specialized foster care for abused adolescents, summer camp for homeless children. (state, county funding)

Bienvenidos Foster Family Agency

1740 Gillette Rd, Ste. 100, Pomona 91769

(909) 622-8099

Abandoned and abused children matched to foster families. (private funding)

Children’s Institute International

711 S. New Hampshire Ave., Los Angeles 90005--Central LA Facility

(213) 385-5100

Provides child abuse prevention and treatment, counseling, family preservation services and foster care. (state funding)

* DIVORCE / SEPARATION / GRIEF

Relationship Discovery Workshops

Crystal Cathedral

12141 Lewis St. Garden Grove 92640

(714) 971-4061

Divorce and grief recovery workshops focusing on the grieving, healing, and rebuilding processes. (fee)

Grief Recovery Line

8306 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 21-A, Beverly Hills 90211

(800) 445-4808

Recovery counseling from loss, such as moving, divorce, death in family.

Single Parent Network

3894 S. Crenshaw, Ste. 8932, Los Angeles 90008

(213) 293-1555

Information and referral services for divorced, widowed, separated and unmarried single parents. (funded by community activities, direct market advertising)

* DOMESTIC VIOLENCE / FAMILIES

1736 Family Crisis Center

103 W. Torrance Blvd, Ste. 101, Redondo Beach 92077

(310) 379-3620-Hotline

Emergency shelter for teens, battered women and their children. (United Way)

Center for Pacific-Asian Family, Inc.

543 N. Fairfax Ave, Room 108, Los Angeles 90036

(213) 653-4042--Hotline

Bilingual Pacific/Asian staff, care for victims of domestic violence, child abuse.

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* GAY / LESBIAN

Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center

1625 Schrader Ave, Los Angeles 90028

(213) 993-7400

Information, counseling and referral on employment, education, health, etc.

* SENIORS

UCLA Geriatric Psychiatry Services

760 Westwood Plaza, Ste. 37-425, Los Angeles 90024

(800) 825-9989

Evaluation and treatment for seniors suffering from depression, anxiety or memory loss. (state, nonprofit)

California Department of Aging

1600 K St, Sacramento 95814

(916) 322-3887

Information on services for state’s 4.5 million seniors. (state funding)

Japanese Community Pioneer Social Services Center

244 S. San Pedro St., Ste. B-5, Los Angeles 90012

(213) 680-1656

Multiple services for senior citizens.

California Assn. of Homes and Services for the Aging

7311 Greenhaven Dr, Ste. 175, Sacramento 95831

(916) 392-5111

Directory of not-for-profit housing, residential care and skilled nursing facilities.

Jewish Home for the Aging of L.A.

Eisenberg Village

1885 Victory Blvd, Reseda 91335

(818) 774-3000

Board and care, skilled nursing and special care units for 750 residents on two campuses. (funded by donations)

* YOUTH SERVICES

Indian Child & Family Services

Southern California Indian Center, Inc.

2500 Wilshire Blvd, Ste. 750, Los Angeles 90057

(213) 387-5772

Monitors and supervises American Indian children in foster and pre-adopt care. Counseling for abused/molested children. (funded by Bureau of Indian Affairs)

BOOKS

Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home, by Arlie Hochschild and Anne Machung. (Viking, 1989) Sociologist examines how working couples manage an eight-hour day and face the full-time job of meeting family needs.

The Mountain of Names, A History of the Human Family, by Alex Shoumatoff. (Simon & Schuster, 1985) Lively discussion of the urge for kinship, its cultural and social origins, its genetic aspects and its history.

Climbing Jacob’s Ladder: The Enduring Legacy of African-American Families, by Andrew Billingsley. (Simon & Schuster, 1994). Study of origins, challenges and destiny of African Americans in America.

Familia: Migration and Adaptation in Baja and Alta California 1800-1975, by Robert R. Alvarez Jr. (University of California Press, 1987) Chronicle of author’s roots and that of a dozen interlocking families as they migrated north from Baja California.

Ancestors: 900 Years in the Life of a Chinese Family, by Frank Ching. (William Morrow, 1988) A clan history that illustrates a sense of continuity and cohesion and reverence for the family in China.

Material World: A Global Family Portrait, by Peter Menzel. (Sierra Club Books, 1994) Photographic portraits of households, people, possessions, pets from 30 families from as many countries.

Do People Grow on Family Trees? Genealogy for Kids & Other Beginners, by Ira Wolfman. (Workman, 1991). Genealogical primer of suggested activities, facts, how-tos and historic detail.

Roots: The Saga of An American Family, by Alex Haley. (Doubleday, 1976) Work of fiction modeled after the 200-year history of Haley’s family, going back to a West African village on the Gambia River.

SOURCES: Los Angeles County Social Service Resource Directory; United Way

Compiled by Times researchers JANET LUNDBLAD and JOHN MALNIC