Steps Toward Healing

Strolling around the Rose Bowl is a pleasant way to spend a leisurely Sunday afternoon, but on Nov. 3, about 400 people will amble through the lovely grounds to combat an ugly problem--child abuse.

The fund-raising walk, called the “Stroll to End Child Abuse,” will benefit Foothill Family Service, a Pasadena-based nonprofit group that runs child abuse prevention programs in the San Gabriel Valley, Glendale, La Crescenta and Burbank.

Demand for child abuse prevention counseling has risen in the San Gabriel Valley area while funds for programs have been cut, said Helen Morran-Wolf, Foothill Family Service’s executive director.

*

Morran-Wolf said the stroll was conceived this year to help offset the drop in state funds for Foothill Family Service’s child abuse programs, and will be an annual event.

The one-mile stroll is open to individuals and families, as well as to school and community groups. Those who participate pay a $10 fee ($8 for youths) and solicit donations from sponsors.

Foothill Family Service counseled 360 families in its child abuse treatment program last year, down from 600 families in 1993, and a long waiting list for the program has formed.

State funding for the center’s abuse prevention program is now less than half of what it was three years ago, according to the agency.

Morran-Wolf said that stress caused by unemployment and the fear of layoffs appears to have contributed to increased domestic violence in the area served by Foothill.

“We’re seeing more people who have lost jobs or are marginally employed, with no benefits or job security,” she said.

*

Fewer clients today have insurance covering mental health than in recent years, increasing the share of program costs that must be picked up by the center, Morran-Wolf noted.

“Five years ago the number of our clients with mental health coverage was three times what it is today,” she said.

Child abuse treatment programs are costly to run because they must continue for lengthy periods, sometimes up to two years. “You cannot come in for five or 10 sessions and have those issues resolved,” Morran-Wolf said.

Clients in Foothill’s programs are charged fees based on their income.

Last year, fees were subsidized for 98% of those receiving services. More than 60% received free care.

The family center’s child abuse treatment program offers counseling to individual family members, as well as sessions for the entire family and group therapy.

Counseling abused children often requires an indirect approach, because a child may be embarrassed or might lack the vocabulary to describe events or feelings, Morran-Wolf said.

Foothill’s counselors encourage children to point to body parts on dolls or draw pictures to tell stories about their experiences.

Sand-tray therapy is another frequently used technique. Children are asked to tell stories describing their thoughts or experiences by using their fingers to draw shapes and figures in the sand.

Morran-Wolf said children are especially comfortable with the sand-tray technique because they can “illustrate their thoughts, feelings and fears and not have to use words, and do not have to be able to draw.”

For adults, there are also parent education and family life education classes that teach how to discipline a child without hitting and what types of behavior should be expected of children at different ages.

The agency also dispatches its counselors to public elementary schools, many of which no longer have school counselors on staff, to care for children.

*

Other programs include counseling for senior citizens and job training for teenage parents.

In June, 196 teenagers in Foothill’s program graduated from high school, and nearly half enrolled in college this school year, officials say.

Foothill Family Services was founded in 1926 by San Gabriel Valley civic leaders to promote healthy families.

Today, services are offered to more than 10,000 clients, in both English and Spanish. Nearly 60% of the agency’s clients are Latino, 20% are African American, 15% are white and 4% Asian American.

The agency, on Oak Knoll Avenue in Pasadena, also has a teenagers service center in West Covina.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Beat

Foothill Family Service, a Pasadena-based family counseling service with a branch in West Covina, offers counseling programs to fight child abuse and domestic violence. A Nov. 3 walk will raise money for child abuse prevention programs. For information, call (818) 795-6907.