News
Glee’s Jane Lynch to Present Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly with Top Honor at The Alliance’s 20th Anniversary Gala | 12.22.11
Category: News
The Hollywood Reporter’s Lesley Goldberg spotlights The Alliance’s 20th Anniversary Gala on March 1, 2012.
Glee‘s Jane Lynch will present Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly with the Alliance for Children’s Rights’ top honors at its 20th anniversary gala in March.
The group, a Los Angeles-based free legal service organization dedicated to protecting impoverished, abused and neglected children, will honor the network topper with its National Champion for Children Award at its Thursday, March 1 event at the Beverly Hilton.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher will receive the alliance’s Francis M. Wheat Community Service Award, which was named after the law firm’s senior partner who founded the group in 1992.
The event, which will unite sponsors from entertainment, corporate and philanthropic communities to raise funds for abused children in L.A., will be chaired by Leslie & Cliff Gilbert-Lurie and Sue Naegle, with honorary co-chairs including Shelli & Irving Azoff, Megan & Peter Chernin and Megan & Peter Rice.
Lynch will serve as master of ceremonies.
For more information or to purchase tickets, go to http://kids-alliance.org/event/20thdinner/.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit
This article appeared on THR’s website on 12/21/11
The Alliance Serves Up Thanks to Youth Aging Out | 12.22.11
Category: News
The Hollywood Reporter’s Bill Higgins on The Alliance for Children’s Rights Day for Thanksgiving.
HBO entertainment president Sue Naegle, Ziffren Brittenham attorney Clifford Gilbert-Lurie and Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo hit Hollywood’s Le Cordon Bleu cooking school last week to help 18-year-olds who have recently “aged out” of the Los Angeles County foster care system learn how to prepare a Thanksgiving dinner. Many of the 50 kids were frequently moved around, growing up in environments where a holiday dinner was not something they could count on.
The event has been an annual tradition for the Alliance for Children’s Rights, which since 1992 has provided advocacy and free services for 26,000 L.A. kids who have been removed from their biological families by court order. It also facilitates adoptions, advocates for the special educational needs the children require and provides mentoring for teenagers who’ve left the system.
“What really surprised me is how many kids go through the foster care system that never find families and are never adopted,” said Alliance board member Naegle, as the teenagers learned to fold cloth napkins into the shape of turkeys. “Then they turn 18, and they’re pushed out of the system.”
Many of the “pushed out” teenagers have no clue about acquiring the skills they need to be independent adults. Many can’t even locate their birth certificate. Fewer than 4 percent graduate from a four-year college.
“Imagine, you get removed from your home, then you get bounced around the system from Lancaster to Long Beach,” said Alliance president Janis Spire. “Studies have shown these kids experience twice the rate of post-traumatic stress as war veterans.”
“These kids can get bounced from house to house and never get adopted. It’s heartbreaking.” — HBO’s Sue Naegle
What the Alliance — which also counts WME’s Sean Perry, Warner Bros. Television executive vp Craig Hunegs, entertainment litigator Daniel Petrocelli and Angie Harmon as board members — tries to do with its $3.7 million annual budget is to get the county to provide legally required medical and financial support for children placed with foster families.
Their legal teams, largely industry and downtown lawyers doing pro bono work, complete one-third of all foster care adoptions in L.A. “We get millions worth of work by gifted lawyers donating their time,” said Gilbert-Lurie, also a board member.
Spire said the organization has helped move forward thousands of adoptions in L.A. She sees permanent placement as the best way to fix the foster care system. “When you ask kids who are aging out what the number one thing they want is, it’s always the same answer,” she says. “They want to belong to a family.”
This article appeared in the Dec. 2 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.
The Alliance for Children’s Rights can be reached at kids-alliance.org.
California prepares to implement landmark legislation | 12.21.11
Category: Home, News, Press Tags: AB12
The California Fostering Connections to Success Implementation Team announced that AB12, legislation which extends foster care from age 18 to 21, is ready to be implemented statewide beginning Jan. 1, 2012. U.S. Representative Karen Bass joined California Department of Social Services –Children & Family Division Deputy Director Gregory Rose, Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services, -Division Chief of Youth Development Services for the County Harvey Kawasaki, Chapin Hall at University of Chicago Professor Mark Courtney, and foster youth and advocacy organizations to announce the AB 12 implementation and importance of AB 12 from a national perspective at a press conference held at The California Endowment on Wednesday, Nov 9, 2011. Please click here to read the release.
“All in for Kids” Celebrity Poker Tournament | 10.14.11
Category: Press
City National Bank® is sponsoring the 8th annual “All-in” for Kids Texas Hold ‘em Celebrity Poker Tournament on Sunday, Oct. 23rd at 12:30 p.m. The star-studded event, Co-Chaired by Angie Harmon, which benefits The Alliance for Children’s Rights, will be presented by Commerce Casino, the World’s Largest Poker Casino®, near downtown Los Angeles and City National Bank…..
Click here to view the press release.
The Alliance receives highest ranking from Charity Navigator | 10.3.11
Category: News, Press Tags: Awards, Charity Navigator
Los Angeles, Calif., Oct. 2011 –
Charity Navigator issues The Alliance for Children’s Rights its highest rating of four stars for its “sound fiscal management and commitment to accountability and transparency.”
“This exceptional designation from Charity Navigator differentiates The Alliance for Children’s Rights from its peers and demonstrates to the public it is worthy of their trust,” states Charity Navigator’s Ken Berger, president and chief executive officer.
Receiving four out of a possible four stars indicates that an organization adheres to good governance and other best practices that minimize the chance of unethical activities and consistently executes its mission in a fiscally responsible
way. Approximately one quarter of the charities evaluated receive the highest rating, indicating that The Alliance for Children’s Rights outperforms most other charities in America…..
View the rest of our release by clicking here.
A 9/11 Remembrance for ‘Frasier’s’ David Angell | 9.15.11
Category: Events, News, Press Tags: events, press
By: Brian Lowry
Published: Thu, September 01, 2011, 3:18 PM
Amid a staggering tide of Sept. 11-related DVDs and press releases as the 10th anniversary nears, one particularly worthwhile event stood out while sifting through my post-vacation inbox.
On Sept. 24, the Kaplan Stahler Agency is underwriting the 13th annual Tennis for Tots event at the Los Angeles Tennis Club, honoring the memory of “Frasier” producer David Angell and his wife, Lynn, who were among the passengers who died when the first plane struck the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.
Principal Mitch Kaplan noted that the agency began sponsoring the event before 2001, but switched it to the David & Lynn Angell Memorial as a tribute to the Angells, who were also active in children’s charities. (A total of $850,000 has been raised for the beneficiary, the Alliance for Children’s Rights, and the goal is to push that total over $1 million this year. Additional info is available via the group’s website.)
Among the event’s sponsors are Angell’s producing partners Peter Casey and David Lee, who — in one of those footnotes I can’t resist — credited Angell with coining the term “boinking” as a euphemism for sex while they were working on “Cheers.”
At the time of his death, Casey and Lee stated, “David Angell was not only our partner but also our friend for the past 16 years. He was a kind and gentle man with a quiet exterior that masked one of the sharpest comedy minds ever to write for television.”
Angell, who was 55 when he died, was posthumously honored by the Writers Guild of America with its Valentine Davies Award.
Learn more about AB 12 | 9.8.11
Category: Home, News, Press Tags: AB12
The Alliance will co-host two AB 12 Summits in November to review implementation steps with community providers regarding the new law California Fostering Connections to Success Act AB 12 designed help transitioning youth remain in care past the age of 18. AB 12 will go into effect starting Jan. 1, 2012 (Read our AB 12 Handout for more info by clicking here.)
Honda LA Marathon and 5K | 9.7.11
5K March 17th & Marathon March 18th
Calling all runners/walkers to Go the Distance for Kids with us! The Alliance has been chosen as an official charity of the 2012 Honda L.A. Marathon & 5K Run. Organize a team at your office, of friends or run on your own to challenge yourself while supporting L.A.’s most vulnerable children.
Survivor Host Jeff Probst joins forces with The Alliance | 6.22.11
Category: News
In an effort to serve more youth Serpentine has merged with The Alliance for Children’s Rights. Through an endowment Probst will enable the Alliance to expand its services for youth aging out of foster care. (Read our PRESS RELEASE).
Variety, a leading entertainment news publication, interviews Jeff Probst on his recent merge with The Alliance. You can read the article online here.
KPCC Pat Morrsion interviews The Alliance | 12.3.10
Category: News
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has removed Trish Ploehn from her post as the director of Los Angeles County’s Department of Children and Family Services.
The Alliance for Children’s Rights Chief Executive Officer Janis Spire speaks to KPCC 89.3 in this recoded interview in Dec. regarding the recent changes.
