Aldea Children and Family Services began in 1972 as a home for troubled teenagers. The founding Board of Directors idealistic impulse led them to establish a loving home for troubled children. The dismantling of the California state hospital system in the 1970’s resulted in state-wide development of community-based alternatives for vulnerable children needing treatment. Aldea responded to this change in public policy by expanding from our beginnings as a residential care provider to offering first school-based programs and day treatment, and later nonpublic schools, treatment foster care, child abuse treatment services, and finally outpatient services. At the same time, we began to assist developmentally disabled adults to live independently in their own homes.

Aldea’s evolution was further influenced by two trends that surfaced in the 1980’s: first, the intensity of our residential treatment services increased because of the growing severity of symptoms displayed by those children needing residential treatment. Second, most public funding was withdrawn from residential treatment at precisely the moment when we saw tremendous expanding need for it. In short, public policymakers sought to dispense with group homes entirely because it was not economically feasible to run such programs with reduced funding.

To this day, insights and methods learned in the residential treatment program, Redwood Treatment Center, continue to be the foundation of Aldea’s work. We utilize alternative treatment modalities through our different programs; we draw on the knowledge and strategies gained from years of residential work and apply these to healing those we serve. These programs include residential homes, treatment foster care, schools, school-sited day treatment programs and outpatient services.

We established and maintain schools and homes for vulnerable children and adults with all the ancillary services needed including psychiatric evaluation, medication management, diagnostic tools, psychometrics, expressive therapies, psychotherapy, vocational services, psycho-education, behavior management, and recreation. We established a continuum of care from the most restrictive environment in our residential homes through treatment foster care, schools, and school-sited day treatment programs to the least restrictive environment, i.e. outpatient services. We also offer what is effectively a continuum of services for all ages since we provide services for clients age birth to 86.