Valley Oak Children Services Celebrates 40 years!

As an acorn becomes a mighty oak tree, Valley Oak Children’s Services has grown from a grassroots effort to a healthy community organization. Founded in 1980 as Butte County’s Child Care Resource and Referral Program, at a time when more single or two-parent families were entering the workplace, Valley Oak Children’s Services has since branched out to so much more.

Through health, education, advocacy, resources, and training Valley Oak touches the H.E.A.R.T. of children, families, and community. Touching the H.E.A.R.T. is the Valley Oak mission. “We focus our energies on what’s strong, not what’s wrong,” says CEO Karen Marlett. “Working with our families and their children with a wide variety of services is preventative and makes a lasting difference creating healthy families and building a strong community.”

Valley Oak provides referral services to community resources and has child development specialists who are ready to answer questions about ages and stages, or any family-related issues. Their overall objectives are to strengthen the quality of childcare, offer more quality choices to parents, and serve as a link to community resources. They work in conjunction with local and state programs such as the Child Care Food Program to help providers serve nutritious meals to the children in their care. The Child Care Payment program helps qualifying families with full or partial funds to cover childcare costs while they go to work or school.

Families can enjoy a night out at a Parent Café with a family-style meal and childcare while engaging in peer-to-peer discussions. Discussions are based on the Strengthening Families Framework and the 5 Protective Factors of Resilience, Social Connections, Concrete Support in Times of Need, Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development, and the Social & Emotional Competence of Children. Parents are informed about the framework and guided into conversations with their peers to solve problems that may affect their children. Parents leave feeling inspired, energized, and excited to put into practice what they have learned.

Valley Oak Children’s Services usually hosts several fun community events during April to coincide with the Week of the Young Child. The annual Children’s Faire takes over downtown Chico with lots of fun-filled family activities and resource booths. There are also free children’s concerts and fundraising events to support Valley Oaks. Unfortunately, those events have been postponed, and families are encouraged to stay healthy and not engage in social activities due to COVID-19.

Valley Oaks Children Services is celebrating 40 years by launching a new website soon. In the meantime, stay up to date on rescheduled events at facebook.com/valleyoakchildren. While there, you will find great resources for remote study programs, proper safety practices for families, information about school lunch programs, and more.

“Children are our most valuable resource. If we invest in our youngest citizens well, we will all be well,” says Karen.