What began in Tucson in 1912 out of a personal desire to help and an individual commitment to the well being of the children of Arizona has become the state’s largest full-service child welfare and behavioral health organization. More than 30,000 children and families benefited from the multitude of programs we offer just this past year. Of course there have been challenges along the way – wars, recessions, state and federal budget crises, and others – but every challenge has been met head on, met and overcome.

Our ability to overcome these challenges can be credited to the same principles that guided the founding of Arizona’s Children Association: the personal desire to help and the individual commitment to the well being of children of over 600 professionally trained, caring and dedicated staff.

The challenge we face today, as an Agency and a state, is the troubling condition of our child welfare programs and the ever-increasing number of unbearable situations our children are forced to endure daily. Child abuse, many times at the hands of the ones who are supposed to love us most, is a serious and growing problem. In fact, instances of child abuse, neglect and abandonment have risen annually for the past decade, resulting in more than 100 children each week being removed from their home. And that’s just in the state of Arizona.

The picture is not hopeless, however. In fact, as we see children and families progress through our programs, emerging happier, healthier and stronger as individuals and as families, we are hopeful for the future of Arizona.

• Each year our dedicated staff takes another step toward raising the awareness of child welfare issues in our state.
• Each year more and more families are staying together instead of falling apart thanks to intensive in-home family therapy sessions or education and training programs.
• Each year more children are being placed in loving foster and adoptive homes where they can begin to travel the road to a caring and constructive life.
• And, each year more and more individuals and corporations join the Arizona’s Children Association family through financial contributions, volunteering and in-kind contributions.

When a person or organization recognizes the need for programs like ours, and then takes action by making a monetary contribution, it makes it that much easier to guide another Arizona child down the road to a healthy family environment.

You can help the children of Arizona by becoming part of the Arizona’s Children Association Family. Your gift does make a difference. It can:

• help a child receive the substance abuse counseling he can get nowhere else,
• help a mother learn the basic life skills needed to properly care for her children,
• teach a father to be an active part of his children’s daily life,
• reunite a biological family,
• or build a new family through foster care or adoption.

The possibilities and probabilities for hope are endless … but only with your help. As you visit our site, remember that every program has a success story, and that as a member of our family one of those successes could be because you recognized your personal desire to help and individual commitment to the well being of children.

Thank you for your support in Protecting Children and Preserving Families all across Arizona.

 

Fred Chaffee
President and CEO