Choose love. Celebrate life.
A Foundation for Youth and Families,
Inc.
At CLCL, we believe in the transformative power of love and celebration of life. We strive to create a nurturing environment that fosters growth, resilience, and a sense of belonging for youth and families before, during, and after crisis.
See a Need…Fill a Need
Most recent data on the needs of Ocean and Monmouth County youth and families reflects the growing homelessness and mental health crisis.
It is imperative that families find sources of stability to assist them as they regroup, recover, or rebuild. Our goal is to act as a support system when and how families decide – either as part of an ongoing prevention effort, a short-term crisis treatment plan, or referral to other community resources.
Cooperation…Not Competition: A Community-based Approach
There is no one organization or agency that has the solution to the complex problems youth and families face every day. It is only through partnership, collaboration, and ongoing cooperation that we can ever have enough wisdom to meet the diverse needs of the whole individual and the whole family.
Prevention…Not Removal: Ongoing Child Welfare System Changes
The 2018 Family First Prevention Services Act redefined the child welfare system. Out-of-Home placement continues to be a last resort for caseworkers as social workers recognize the power of intervention and support services to address conflicts and issues without removing the child and separating the family. CLCL Foundation seeks to join this effort of preventing removals by providing ongoing, free of charge services to support families struggling before a crisis arises. Still, crises cannot always be prevented, so crisis intervention services are still needed to address current issues and problems.
Refer to…Not Report On: A Warmline Approach – What’s That?
In the fight against ongoing systemic racism, service stigmatization, and the mental health and housing crises – CLCL Foundation seeks to encourage the community to utilize a warmline to refer to instead of a hotline to report. This type of approach recognizes the disparity and disproportionate representation of families experiencing poverty within the child welfare system.
Members of the community may not know how to refer neighbors or friends for help, and resort to calling 1-877-NJ ABUSE. A family or child’s lack of a material item in and of itself does not constitute child maltreatment nor is it indicative of neglect. We hope to encourage the community to not report maltreatment when families experiencing poverty and there are no other signs of child abuse or neglect. This type of approach can reduce the number of maltreatment allegations, free up state resources to address actual cases of child maltreatment and endangerment and leave struggling families feeling support rather than judgement.