Dear Hollygrove Staff,
 
Six years ago today we said goodbye to the last of Hollygrove’s residential children – and to our 125-year old history of providing “A Caring Home for Children.” To those of us who still work here that seems like yesterday…or has it been a lifetime??
 
What’s changed?
Closing our residential program was a watershed for Hollygrove, marking our shift to serving kids exclusively in their own homes and communities. And this reflects the broader changes in child welfare and mental health policy over the last decade, which has seen the number of kids in foster care in LA County shrink from a high of 50,000 to about 18,000 today. At the same time litigation, legislation and advocacy have transformed the mental health system serving kids from a clinic-based, medical model of care to the sorts of community-based, family-friendly and individualized services we deliver at Hollygrove/EMQ FamiliesFirst.
 
These changes have benefited the vulnerable children and families we serve. Our residential program helped hundreds of children, but too often we couldn’t involve the family in treatment or support them once the child returned home. Worse, there were too many kids with no link to family or community, and we were powerless to prevent the multiple placements and replacements that followed a successful stay at Hollygrove. We all know the grim statistics for kids aging out of foster care: 25% will be incarcerated within the first two years; 20% will be come homeless; fewer than 3% will earn college degrees. The way we work with families today, along with our robust Family Finding program, will ensure permanency and safety for many more kids than our residential program ever could.
 
And we are now truly part of our community. Our campus, once hidden behind gates and high hedges for the protection of the kids living here, has opened its doors, welcoming children from our community to Camp Hollygrove and 400 students at Larchmont Charter School throughout the year.
 
What will never change?
Under Judy Nelson’s leadership, Hollygrove became a values-driven organization. Doing away with the point-and-level behavior modification system, Judy and her team redesigned the residential program and the management of the agency around seven universal values: Caring, Respect, Trust, Learning, Citizenship, Responsibility and Fairness. We sought an agency that shared our values when we merged with EMQ and later FamiliesFirst. And we adhere to those values today in our interactions with each other, the families we serve, and our partners in the community.
 
We’ve also kept our commitment to enriching and enhancing each child’s experience with us, far beyond what government funding will cover. Each year we raise charitable funds for Family Finding, Camp Hollygrove, our new Endless Summer afterschool program, and the Whatever It Takes Fund. We do not want poverty to dictate our families’ well-being, so we buy furniture and school uniforms, pay utility bills and rent, provide groceries, phone cards, transportation…the list goes on, and we will continue to do these things for our families year after year.

Our future
My commitment to Hollygrove hasn’t changed.  As long as children attend schools in violent communities, live in chaotic homes, struggle with poverty, drugs and alcohol, and suffer interactions with the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, I will fight for their right to live peacefully and productively, free from the effects of trauma. I am privileged to carry on Hollygrove’s legacy and to work with all of you, who share my most heartfelt wishes for these children.
 
Martine Singer
Executive Director, Los Angeles Region