Our
Mission Focus:
· Keeping our children home, and if they are in the system, bringing
our children home
· Supporting African American children
· Recruiting African American families for kinship care, foster
care, and adoption
Our
Vision:
Collective work and responsibility for our children and their
families
Our Goal:
Out of every ONE CHURCH/community, at least one family to come
forward and support ONE CHILD and his/her family:
· The promotion and preservation of kinship and heritage
· The reduction of the disproportional
representation of African American children in this State’s foster care system
· Culturally appropriate, permanent families
for African American children
· The affirmation and acknowledgement of
the worth and necessity of community based, African American services
Our Philosophy:
We believe that kinship, culture,
race and ethnicity are important considerations in children’s futures and that kinship families and/or families of like
culture, ethnicity and/or racial background have historically demonstrated the ability to equip children with skills and strengths,
rooted by their personal experiences, to combat the ill effects of racism.
Our Values:
·
OCOC/UJIMA believes in social justice for our African American
children and families and the community as a strong, vital resource in supporting our children and families
·
Our agency believes in making placement decisions based
on the individual needs of each child, and the family’s ability to meet those needs.
Our values are based on the following:
o The
right of every child to a permanent, appropriate family who recognizes preservation of the child’s ethnic and cultural
heritage as an inherent right
o The
right of every child in “the system” to have as few placements as possible and permanence as soon as possible
o The
right of families to services which assist them in making the best choices and decisions for our children and which support
the creation of safe, healthy, developmentally appropriate home environments
o The right of the child to have placement preference of (kinship) an adult relative or adult with
significant relationship to the child who meets all relevant child protection standards over non-related third parties
·
As an African American agency we believe our Board of
Directors and executive leadership should reflect the African American heritage of our clients.
·
Our agency provides services to families and children on
a non-discriminatory basis.
·
Our agency structures our programs and fees to ensure financial
barriers are removed.
·
Our agency believes in the worth of each individual and
respect for each other's diversity. We treat each other with dignity and we recognize
the value that each brings to the business and community relationship.
·
Our agency believes in meeting the needs of connection
and identity, which is in the best interest of the child.
· Our agency fulfills all of the obligations of the MultiEthnic Placement Act as amended by the Interethnic Adoption
Provisions of 1996. This law says that agencies cannot delay or deny children
the right to a family nor the family’s right to foster or adopt a child based on race, color or national origin and
that there must be diligent recruitment of families that reflect the diversity of children in need of placement.
