Children and Families Coalition of Orange County (Fiscally Sponsored by One OC)

The Children and Families Coalition of Orange County (CFCOC) brings together community-based organizations through collective impact to reduce child abuse and neglect, expand access to mental health services, and address the social and economic factors that shape family well-being. We envision a future where families are empowered, children are resilient, and communities stand strong against adversity. Guided by this vision, we are building a legacy of transformation, one that echoes the laughter of children and the promise of brighter tomorrows.

Every child deserves to grow up safe, healthy, and supported. Yet in Orange County, one in seven children experiences abuse or neglect each year (CDC). Behind those statistics are real families struggling with poverty, housing instability, substance use, and barriers to mental health care. Without intervention, these early adversities can alter brain development, increase the risk of chronic illness, and fuel cycles of trauma across generations. CFCOC was established to shift this story from crisis response to prevention. By aligning community voice, trusted messengers, and public systems, we champion policies and practices that keep children safe while strengthening the protective bonds of family and community. We believe breaking the cycle of abuse requires more than services; it requires reimagining the system itself. By focusing on prevention, equity, and healing, CFCOC is helping ensure that every child in Orange County has the chance to thrive.

Advancing Equity: CFCOC is committed to creating systems that work for every family, particularly those who have been historically excluded. We have collaborated with national partners like the Center for the Study of Social Policy and the Alliance for Racial Equity in Child Welfare to bring anti-racism and cultural relevance into Orange County’s child welfare and mental health systems. Locally, we collaborate with partners such as Beyond Blindness, OC Deaf, and the Pacific Islander Health Partnership to ensure that children with disabilities, families facing language barriers, and communities of color receive equitable access to the supports they need.

Strengthening Prevention: One notable project in our prevention work is the Every Family Home Visiting Collaborative (Every Family HVC). This initiative unites culturally rooted community-based organizations to provide trusted, in-home support for families with young children, delivered in multiple languages and grounded in community traditions. Every Family HVC is expanding access to home visiting services that historically left too many families behind, ensuring that more parents receive the tools, resources, and relationships they need to raise resilient children. Together with other prevention strategies such as Family Resource Centers and Neighbor-to-Neighbor, Every Family HVC is transforming prevention into a community-wide standard rather than a privilege. Building Community Capacity Through PATH CITED Round 2 funding, CFCOC has helped smaller, under-resourced, and culturally rooted nonprofits strengthen their infrastructure to participate in CalAIM’s Enhanced Care Management and Community Supports. These organizations, trusted messengers in immigrant, refugee, and BIPOC communities, are often the first point of contact for families in crisis. By providing technical assistance, workforce training, and IT systems, CFCOC has supported over fifteen CBOs in becoming sustainable providers, ensuring families can access essential services such as food, housing, mental health care, and healthcare navigation.

The Ripple Effect: When families have access to trusted supports, the impact ripples across entire communities. Children start school healthy and ready to learn, parents find relief from the isolation of navigating complex systems alone, and culturally rooted organizations grow stronger in their ability to serve. With each partnership built and each barrier removed, CFCOC is helping Orange County move closer to a future where every child and family can thrive.

Orange County families face long waitlists, fragmented services, and barriers rooted in poverty, stigma, and inequity. CFCOC exists to close those gaps; not by duplicating services, but by weaving them together into a stronger safety net. To continue this vital work, we need sustained community investment in three cornerstone areas:

1. Every Family Home Visiting Collaborative (Every Family HVC): Every Family HVC provides culturally responsive, in-home support to families who have historically been excluded from prevention services. By partnering with trusted messengers from diverse communities, the Collaborative ensures parents have the knowledge, resources, and relationships they need to raise resilient children. CFCOC serves as a Collaborative Support Organization, offering training, infrastructure, and technology support to strengthen service delivery. Funding helps expand Every Family HVC’s reach, build capacity among trusted partners, and connect families to wraparound resources like mental health care, housing, and nutrition support.

2. Early Childhood Policy Framework Entrusted to CFCOC in 2024, the Framework provides a shared vision: that all children in Orange County should thrive. Our role is to update, train, and embed this philosophy across schools, businesses, and government systems, so that child and family wellness becomes second nature to our community. With your support, we can make prevention the default, not the exception.

3. CalAIM Enhanced Care Management Support: Through California’s CalAIM initiative, CFCOC is helping smaller, culturally rooted nonprofits build the systems and workforce needed to provide Medi-Cal services. These organizations, often the first point of contact for immigrant, refugee, and low-income families, play an essential role as trusted messengers.
Fiscal support enables us to strengthen their infrastructure, allowing families facing barriers such as transportation, multiple jobs, or language differences to access coordinated care. Beyond these three core projects, CFCOC continues to advance initiatives highlighted on our website, including efforts in fatherhood engagement, disability inclusion, and equity-centered policy reform. Each is vital to ensuring that no family falls through the cracks.

Finally, as a small organization managing an increasingly complex environment, CFCOC also needs support to strengthen our own capacity. Investments in technology, data systems, and infrastructure allow our lean team to “do more with less,” ensuring that every dollar goes further in the service of children and families. When you give to CFCOC, you are not just funding programs; you are also supporting the community. You are investing in prevention, in equity, and in the belief that families should not have to wait until a crisis to get the support they deserve. Together, we can break cycles of trauma and create a stronger Orange County for all.

Orange County, CA

As the Executive Director of the Children and Families Coalition of Orange County (CFCOC), I bring over 40 years of experience leading innovative, community-based programs across child development, mental health, and family support services.

Throughout my career, I’ve believed that every child deserves to flourish, and every family deserves support, not just in times of crisis, but as a foundation for lifelong well-being. At CFCOC, we bring people together across systems and communities to create something stronger than any of us could build alone.
Our work is deeply rooted in collaboration. Whether supporting trauma-informed initiatives, mentoring diverse teams, or aligning with trusted community partners, I believe in leveraging each person’s strengths to drive change.

If we want different outcomes, we must reallocate time, resources, and funding toward prevention, not just intervention. True impact happens when families are heard, local leaders are empowered, and systems shift in response. That’s why our motto, “Coming Together, Achieving More,” is more than a slogan; it’s how we do the work, and why we keep showing up.

“Every child deserves to flourish, and every family deserves support.”
— Valerie Brauks, Executive Director, CFCOC

When we created the Children and Families Coalition of Orange County, it was because we saw too many families falling through the cracks. Services for young children were limited, often with long waitlists, and tended to reach only those in crisis. But every family deserves support before hardship becomes trauma. We know that no child grows up well in isolation. Children thrive when families, neighborhoods, schools, and communities are connected and working together. That is the vision behind CFCOC—bringing people and systems together so families can flourish, not just survive. Investing in children early is not only the right thing to do, but it is also the most cost-effective. Every dollar we spend now to strengthen families and prevent harm saves many more down the road. More importantly, it secures the health, resilience, and promise of future generations in Orange County.