Walden Family Services

Since 1976, Walden Family Services has been meeting our mission of supporting the lives of children and families through lasting relationships. Simply put, we ensure that children in the foster care system are able to live with loving, stable families with as little disruption or upheaval as possible, allowing them to heal from the trauma of their abuse and develop into successful adults. In addition, many of our children have complex emotional and behavioral issues, developmental delays or special health care needs. Because of the challenge of caring for children with such intense needs, others cannot or will not care for these children. The result for many is institutionalization or multiple placement failures, leaving the child without a sense of trust in adults, without the ability to build lasting relationships, and without the sense of permanency and belonging that comes with the support of a loving family.

Throughout our history, Walden has consistently sought and implemented cutting-edge practices to best meet the needs of California's foster care population. Transitioning from a group home structure to a provider of therapeutic foster care meant we could better address the mental health needs of our children, which we have continued to do through additional innovative programming focused on children with special health care needs or developmental delays, as well on LGBTQ youth and those preparing to emancipate from the system. Our culture is one that embraces change while providing much needed stability for the children in our care.

Our approach is multi-faceted and sustained; we believe "once a Walden kid, always a Walden kid." Each child's needs are met on an individualized basis, whether it is through our Special Health Care Needs Program, our general Therapeutic Services, our outreach to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender or Questioning (LGBTQ) youth, or our Independent Futures program for emancipating youth.

Walden's corporate office is located in San Diego, with district offices in San Diego, Lancaster, San Fernando Valley, and Riverside/San Bernardino. We have received the Angels in Adoption award from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, and Walden's foster parents have been recognized by the House of Representatives for their "vision, dedication and involvement in making families a reality." We are accredited through the California Alliance of Child and Family Services.