(805) 884-0012

(805) 884-0177 - fax

CEO

Meichelle Arntz

(805) 884-0012   

meichelle@angelssb.com 

 

Director Of Operations

Jennifer Mills, LCSW

(805) 264-4470

jennifer@angelssb.com 

 

Lead Social Worker

Stacy Peterson, LCSW

(805) 884-0012 stacy@angelssb.com 

 

Social Worker

Betsy Nickels, MA, EdM

(805) 884-0012 betsy@angelssb.com 

 

Office Administrator

Grant Writer

Ellen Dameron

(805) 884-0012

ellen@angelssb.com 

 

 

 

 

Al Fresco Afternoon on the Riviera, Angels' annual luncheon fundraiser held on April 25, was a huge success. 210 attendees in hats and flats arrived at the gardens of the Four Seasons Biltmore Santa Barbara. Guests shopped at the Marketplace and enjoyed a trio of beautiful salads and artisan breads for lunch, followed by a dessert bar fashioned to delight. 

 

The best part for me was seeing all of the wonderful Angels moms in attendance. It was so special for the guests to mingle with these great women who are on the front lines of caring for our babies everyday. Ali Azarvan and Tom Adams, our fantastic M.C.'s, placed baby balloons at all the tables who donated dollars to support foster child placements. The crowd loved this and we raised much needed funds to finance the development and training of new foster families to take our babies. 

 

Michele White, Marsha Kotlyer, Holly Murphy, and Sue Bickett were our event co-chairs. These amazing women worked very hard to make this year's Al Fresco event our best yet. I also want to recognize our Fundraising Committee who contributed their time and talents to making our event a success: Gina Andrews, Monica Babich, Diane Brown, Sarah Clark, Laura Dinning, Ashley Ann Dorris, Kathleen Cooper, Leslie Haight, Jennifer Hecht, Sheela Hunt, Sara Keppler Donen, Dina Landri, Amanda Lee, Alixe Mattingly, Bob Murphy, Shannon Neels, Susannah Rake, Leanne Schlinger, Stephanie Smillie, Lizzie Tobias, Patty Vignolo, Annie Williams and Katherine Wisner. 

 

Thank you to our marvelous team of baby lovers who work so hard to make sure every foster infant and toddler in our community has a safe, stable loving family of their very own.

 

Warmly,

Meichelle Arntz, 

Executive Director 

For our community during 2013, 193 local children entered foster care for the first time due to abuse and neglect. 113 of these children were 5 years old or younger, accounting for 58.5% of all children removed from their families due to abuse and neglect and placed in foster care. Very young and vulnerable children going through tremendous disruptions at an extremely critical time of their development.

 

It is into this tumultuous time that Angels enters into a child's life. Angels' families provide support, stability and loving care.  Angels' families encourage children to grow, play and thrive within an environment of safety and acceptance.  While the Angels program involves intervention at its core, it is by its nature, prevention. Intervention now to interrupt and prevent future cycles of abuse, neglect, despair and lost potential.  We strongly believe, as Fred Rogers explained, "If we can bring our children understanding, comfort, and hopefulness when they need this kind of support, then they are more likely to grow into adults who can find these resources within themselves later on."

 

Please join us is expressing thanks and deep appreciation for Angels' foster parents and all foster parents.  We all owe them a debt that we can never fully pay.

 

Respectfully,

Jennifer Mills, LCSW

 

Sources:  www.childwelfare.gov, CWS/CMS 2013 Quarter 4 Extract

 

Newly Certified Families - none to report this month.

 

New Placements: Traci & Alex of North Santa Barbara County accepted placement of an infant girl, Ashley and Jason of South Santa Barbara County welcomed a toddler boy and Larry & Sara of North Santa Barbara County accepted an infant girl.

 

Recent Adoptions: Congratulations to Matt and Wendy of South Santa Barbara County for their adoption of Joey!

 

Thank you to our amazing foster families for opening their homes to Angels children!

We have many useful books on parenting in our South County office library. Please stop by to browse our resources or contact your social worker if you would like us to select a book for you on a specific topic.

 

Matt & Tricia of 

South Santa Barbara County

Angels is very appreciative of the many months you have worked as foster parents, and the love and support you have given your Angels child!