Best Places to Work 2014: Sonoma County Children's Village

SANTA ROSA--"Innovative, creative, exciting" are not words one typically associates with foster care. But Anjana Utarid, executive director of the Sonoma County Children's Village, said employees love working at this nonprofit organization for these reasons.

She said the atmosphere is exhilarating because people involved with the Village don't think in terms of, "This is how it's done." Instead, they think, 'This is how it should be done,' and then they figure out a way to do it.

For example, those working in the foster care system have long understood that it's almost always best  to keep siblings together when placing them in foster care. But, foster families rarely have large enough residences to be able to house multiple children. So unfortunately, siblings are torn apart.

"Studies have shown that people's relationships with their siblings are usually the longest relationships in their lives," Ms. Utarid said. "Most everyone can relate to how terrible it would be to be separated from your brother or sister. Not keeping siblings together was the principal thing missing in the foster care system. So the community here in Sonoma County came together and decided this needed to be changed. They built the Children's Village as a home for these kids, where they could live with their siblings in a caring, stable environment."

Another area in which the Village decided to buck the norm and do things the way they should be done, was when it came to hiring therapists for kids. "The government doesn't pay much for therapy, and will only pay for a few sessions," Ms. Utarid said. "So we decided we were going to get these kids the very best therapists and we'd have to figure out a way to raise funds to provide for them.

"We have high standards and we want the best of the best for our kids. So we end up attracting the best of the best employees and volunteers to help us out. Our employees are doing an incredible job not because we pay them what they are worth, but because they believe in our mission, they understand how they are changing the lives of these kids one day at a time."

Show Comment