WHO:                   One Church, One Child of Washington State, Inc.

UJIMA Community Services

                Executive Director                           Gwendolyn E. Lawson Townsend

Staff                                                       9

                Board & Advisors                             13                         

 

WHAT:                 One Church, One Child of Washington State, Inc. is a not-for-profit, non-sectarian, African American agency which was specifically founded to identify African American families who would foster/adopt our legally free children who are in the foster care system of Washington State and waiting for forever homes.   Our primary mission is supporting our children who are in the child welfare (foster care) of Washington State, and their families.   Our vision and primary goal is collective work and responsibility for our children by the promotion and preservation of kinship and heritage.

 

Throughout the years we have extended our services through UJIMA Community Services to include PRIDE Training which is the State mandated pre-service training for foster care, adoption and kinship care; cultural seminars; workshops; supports; mentoring programs; support groups; foster care licensing; adoption home studies; child placement; post-placement services; adoption finalizations; and home-based services such as family preservation, kinship, and birth parent counseling services. 

 

 We are the first (and thus far, only) statewide African American licensed child placement agency in Washington State with a total focus on our children and their families.  (Although our services are available to everyone, our primary focus of concern is African American children and their families, primarily in King County).  

 

 We provide services to families and children on a non-discriminatory basis and we structure our programs and fees to ensure financial barriers are removed.  We service communities, without local, state, or federal grants or the barriers they might cause, through our much sought after contracting of services.

 

WHY:                    Although African American children are only 4% of the children in the total Washington State child population, African American children represent 16% of the children in out of home care, 20% of the children legally free for adoption and 22% of the children legally free without a permanent home.  In King County the disproportionality is even greater – approximately 40% of all children in out-of-home care are African American children!  We not only believe in “bringing our children home” but first and foremost in “keeping our children home.”

 

 WHEN:                Our agency opened its doors to serving our children and their families on October 22, 1988, was incorporated in March 1989, licensed in July 1999, and began licensing families for foster care and adoption in 2000.

 

 HOW MANY:   

      Children and families served by our agency since October 22, 1988                                                    thousands!

 

Updated 8/1/2009