Core Values

Together with Children’s Law Center of California, FSAC is committed to the holistic representation of our clients. To realize our shared vision of achieving excellence in advocacy, we uphold the following principles:

young mother, daughter, and father

VOICE. We are respectful and responsive to the voice of the client and advocate for our clients’ active participation. We ensure our clients have a voice throughout our advocacy.

RESPECT. We are dedicated to promoting equality and dignity among all people. We thoughtfully consider, appreciate, and value each client’s lived experiences, including family dynamics and trauma history, with respect and without judgment.

BELONGING. We strive to keep families together. We believe every child deserves loving and permanent relationships. Every child deserves to feel safe, wanted, loved, and heard, and we accept each child for who they are and honor their individuality. We celebrate the communities with which they identify and foster community connections.

ACCESS. Every child deserves meaningful access to education, safe housing, health, and mental health care. We advocate for justice, inclusion, and full community participation, removing barriers, real or perceived, to encourage the widest possible participation.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION. We believe in racial justice and equity in the child welfare system. Through our practice, we strive to dismantle structural racism and implicit and explicit bias that leads to disproportionality and disparate outcomes for Black and Native American families in child welfare. We work to remedy structural inequities for Black, Latino, Native American, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, those living in poverty, and other individuals and groups that have been traditionally unheard and historically devalued or excluded.

CULTURAL HUMILITY AND HONOR. We honor each client’s heritage, culture, and traditions, and are committed to learning from and lifting the voices of our clients. We encourage our employees to bring their unique, whole selves to the work. Our workplace strives to reflect the communities we serve, and we seek dedicated professionals with varied backgrounds and perspectives, including those with lived experience. We recognize the impact of continuous exposure to trauma on our staff and encourage employees to maintain a regular practice of self-care.