La Cuna in the News

We are proud to announce our 50th Placement! This achievement is truly remarkable and exceeds our expectations. Most brand new foster family agencies place only 10 to 12 children a year for their first two years due to start-up requirements and rigorous bureaucracy. Since obtaining our license two years ago, we've placed 50 children in safe and loving La Cuna homes! Our 50th placement garnered some great news coverage on television, print and radio, including Channel 10, Univision Television, Univision Radio, the Union Tribune and Ranch and Coast Magazine. We wish to congratulate two-year old Jordan and the Rodriguez family and wish them the very best.

La Cuna at Home

Our La Cuna parents provide loving care to young children and provide shining examples about what real, caring parenting means.

In February 2006, the Morales family opened up their hearts and home to 3 day old "Arturo*" after his mother, "Graciela*," made some wrong choices that affected the safety of her child. The Morales family, Elizabeth, Andrew and son Gabriel, provided Arturo with love, comfort and care he needed to live a healthy life. The reassurance, support and mentoring the Morales family provided for Arturo's Mother inspired her to be a better parent. After 14 months of embracing Arturo as part of the Morales family, he was reunified with his Mother. Graciela tells us, "I have felt very comfortable sharing my problems with Elizabeth. Es lo major. Le quiero mucho. (She's the best. I love her very much.) She and Andrew are very special people who took very good care of my child and continue to help me and my child to this day."

A few months later, the Morales family opened up their hearts and homes again when they met baby Annette. Annette's mother did not have the means to care for her and Annette had already gone to two "temporary" county homes in two and a half months. Annette's mother never responded to attempts to reach her and reunify, so Annette was placed in a "long term placement" which was the Morales Family. Annette has been part of the Morales family for 10 months now and the court is moving towards adoption. Gabriel, Andrew and Elizabeth are thrilled to know that Annette will become a permanent part of their family.

As Elizabeth says, "There were uncertainties in fostering and adopting, but now that we have experienced both, we are satisfied knowing that we have provided a loving and caring home for "Arturo" and Annette. They have filled our lives with lots of joy and love. In my culture, families often watch out for one another. It is common to care for your neighbor or your friend's child as if she was your own. My idea of family is expansive. Perhaps one or two of you reading this newsletter will open your heart and your home to a La Cuna child or know someone that might do so." (*Names have been changed upon the request of biological Mom.)

La Cuna at Work

La Cuna is doing very important work in foster care for children birth to five years old. We have a saying; "one size doesn't fit all in foster care." What we mean is that babies in foster care should not be treated the same as any other foster child. The very youngest foster children and babies have very specific needs at a very critical developmental age. At this tender age, proper brain development requires that a child have a secure attachment to a primary care giver. It takes a special person to take in another person's child to love, nurture, and protect. It also takes specific training, ongoing support and age-appropriate services. This is why La Cuna is special.

From the start, La Cuna prescreens all callers interested in becoming foster parents, separating those who cannot provide a clean and safe home or financially support a foster child. Even though all foster children receive a stipend monthly, it is not enough to financially care for a child's basic needs. Financial challenges are the number one family stressor today and we believe that adding that stress to a family or putting a foster child into a family that is completely strained financially is not the best solution.

Emotional and mental balance is key to healthy parenting. La Cuna screens our applicants by using a variety of psychological instruments to screen out those with psychological problems. Once we complete the screening, roughly 25% of those interested are actually invited to our training and certification process.

New this year; La Cuna is launching its thoroughly re-developed and enhanced training. All La Cuna parents will receive The Incredible Years parenting training. The Incredible Years is one of the highest regarded parent training curriculums available and has materials in Spanish for our monolingual parents. This curriculum provides all the tools and processes for our parents to use to help maintain consistency in parenting correctly. In addition, the curriculum also has tools for measuring the effectiveness of its use with children. La Cuna will have the ability to track the outcomes and effectiveness of this parenting approach for the foster children in our care. In addition to parenting curriculum we have segments on child development, the child welfare system, health and nutrition. The class is delivered in Spanish as well as English, and is culturally appropriate.

The most unique and exceptional aspect of La Cuna is the support system and services we provide for our foster children and families. We see our families weekly initially, then bi-weekly and monthly thereafter not just to provide the customary case management that goes along with foster parenting but also to build our relationship. We get to know our families and it is through this trusting relationship that we can understand their individual needs. For those who, for what ever reason, become stressed and need help we provide counseling and stress management services provided by licensed clinicians at no cost to our families. This year we are offering special training in Infant and Child Massage. Research shows that healing touch is a calming factor for babies and their parents and helps develop a child's secure bonding and attachment.

Give a gift to La Cuna and brighten the life of a young child!

When you give a gift to La Cuna, you give the gift of hope and help improve the life of a child in desperate need of a loving home.

Gifts of Money, well-leveraged - The easiest way to support La Cuna is to make a monetary gift. We currently have an opportunity to leverage our funding and thus help greater numbers of foster children in critical need of a loving home. An anonymous donor has committed $15,000 on the condition that La Cuna will match that funding three ways before the end of 2007- meaning if we identify two other gifts of $15,000 we will raise a total of $45,000 including his gift.

We hope you will make a secure donation, in the amount comfortable for you, online at www.lacuna.org or mail your gift to: La Cuna, Inc., 3180 University Ave., Suite 260, San Diego CA 92104

Gifts of Love - If you or someone you know wants to become a foster parent, please call or tell them about La Cuna! Contact Morgan, who is bi-lingual, at: 619.521.9900 to find out if foster parenting is right for you or attend our next prospective parent informational meeting.

Gifts of Baby Items - Young children have lots of needs, from safe car seats, toys and cribs to diapers, wipes and clothes. If you have clean, safe and new/barely used baby items, our children could definitely use them! Please contact our office to donate your items.

Gift of assistance in helping us find a donated storage space – we have outgrown our small storage area and need another 500-1,000 sq. ft. to store our donated items. Please call Rachel if you have any ideas on how to help.

Gifts of Time - La Cuna's mission is fulfilled by caring people. If you have time, talent or simply love children and have some energy to spare, please contact our office to talk about volunteer opportunities.

Community Involvement

La Cuna Celebrates Mother's Day

On May 20, La Cuna held it's second annual Mother Daughter Tea at the Paradise Point Resort and Spa. La Cuna honored Kristi Pieper-Rossbacher for her significant contributions towards the health and well being of San Diego children. Chair Dawn DuCharme and honorary chairs Yolanda Walther-Meade and Yolanda S. Walther-Meade helped make this year's tea a resounding success. The tea raised over $60,000!

In a beautiful setting, more than 300 guests of all ages had fun, dined on delicious food and were inspired. Face painting, an energetic dance performance and great silent auction items made the afternoon a memorable one. The Honorable Irma E. Gonzalez and our board president, David Bejarano reminded us about the critical needs facing foster babies. Several La Cuna families also attended.

Thank you to the generous sponsors, committee members, volunteers and guests for a tea to remember. Let's make our 2008 Mother Daughter Tea even more incredible! Please e-mail Anna Jauregui, 2008 chair, for details on how you can help!

Many thanks to the Cuatrecasas family, who were the Title Sponsors of our event, and to the following additional sponsors:
The Hildreth Team
Law & Kolakowski
The Nancy and Whitten Humphreys Memorial Fund
Southwest Airlines

Many thanks to our major opportunity drawing and silent auction donors: David and Esperanza Bejarano, David Field and Kalisa Wells.

Many thanks to our tea committee: Dawn Ducharme (Chair), Lucia Bonis, Carole Fish, Erin Forsyth, Eileen Henesey, Anna Jauregui, Cathy Lloyd, Anna Quint, Lorena Sosa and Diane Wintriss.

Our Hero - Robert McNeely

On August 16, 2007, La Cuna honored Robert A. McNeely, Executive Vice President, Community Development and Chairman and CEO of the Union Bank of California Foundation, with the Cuna Hero/ Héroe Award 2007. The event celebrated Mr. McNeely's significant contributions to children and was held at the University Club. Dr. Johnny Carter chaired the event. Those who attended included Delores McNeely, Steve Francis, Juan Garcia, Chuck Hansen, Alan Sorkin and Enrique Schon. Special thanks to the Chevron Corporation for underwriting the event!

Muchas Gracias

Our heart-felt thanks to those who have committed to gifts at the following major and special levels of giving!!

Major Giving $100,000+
San Diego Social Venture Partners

Special Giving $10,000+
Alliance Healthcare Foundation
The Bravo Foundation
City of San Diego
Compassion Capital Fund (CCF)
Cuatrecasas Foundation
First 5 Commission
The Guadalupe Fund
Nancy and Whitten Humphreys Memorial Fund
McCarthy Foundation
Myron Eichen Memorial
The Parker Foundation
San Diego County's Community Services to Families Project
St. Germain Auxiliary
Stranahan Foundation
Union Bank of California
Weingart-Price Fund

Cathy Lloyd honored as outstanding board member

Cathy Lloyd of KyXy Radio was honored as Outstanding Board Member of the Year in 2007 for her commitment to our cause. She is incredibly competent and reliable, and was responsible for bringing in $75,000 to La Cuna last year through her grant-writing. She serves as Secretary to the Board, member of La Cuna's Executive Committee and Chair of La Cuna's Marketing/Media Committee.

A Look Ahead

Saturday October 27th, 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM, start-up of next cycle of parenting classes (4 consecutive weeks)

Sunday November 11th, 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM, quarterly cocktail party for board members, spouses and new friends of La Cuna. Call Rachel at (619) 521-9900 if you would like to join us! Board member Marsha Piper has graciously offered to host the event.

Thursday December 6th, 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM Posole Holiday Celebration - Come meet all incredible families and children, celebrate them and enjoy traditional Posole soup! RSVP to Rachel.

Board and Staff

Board Officers

Chairman: David Bejarano, Retired Chief of Police
Term: December 2008

Treasurer: Lenore Hawkins, Principal, Paro Consulting
Term: December 2010

Secretary: Cathy Lloyd, Senior Manager, Account Manager, KyXy-FM 96.5
Term: December 2008

Board of Directors

Dr. Johnny Carter, Artist, Carter Portraits
Term: December 2009

Maru Davila, CEO, Corp. de telecomunicaciones regionales
Term: December 2009

Melissa Díaz, Deputy District Attorney, County of San Diego
Term: December 2007

Eileen Henesey, Eclectic Design Concepts
Term: December 2010

Adolfo Gonzales, Ed.D., Chief of Police, City of National City
Term: December 2010

Hon. Irma E. Gonzalez, Chief Judge, US District Court Southern District of California
Term: December 2010

Anna Jauregui, Attorney at Law, Appellate Defenders, Inc.
Term: December 2010

Lidia S. Martinez, West Coast Regional Manager, Hispanic Community Affairs, Southwest Airlines
Term: December 2010

Dr. Stan Pappelbaum, CEO, Pappelbaum, Turner and Associates
Term: December 2009

Charles Parisi, CEO, Quintessence
Term: December 2009

Marcia Piper, Trustee, Stranahan Foundation
Term: December 2010

Lorena Sosa, Merchandise Manager, Paradise Resort and Spa
Term: December 2007

Miguel Vasquez, Branch Manager, Union Bank of California
Term: December 2010

Yolanda S. Walther-Meade, Binational Project Development Consultant
Term: December 2010

Don Wells, Creative Director, KGTV/Channel 10 News
Term: December 2008

Berenice Zamaro, Washington Mutual
Term: December 2010

Staff:

Silvia Aguayo-Lopez, Ph.D., MFT - Senior Social Worker, in-house therapist
Judy Froehlich, LMFT - Program Director
Rachel Humphreys, MA - Founder, Executive Director
Lorraine Ramirez, BA –Executive Assistant

Mission Statement:

The mission of La Cuna is to ensure that Latino foster infants and toddlers grow up safe, happy and healthy, and to develop best practices that improve the lives of Latino children in foster care across California.