All children should grow up in safe and nurturing homes. Unfortunately, in CA over 97,000 children are living apart from their families, in out of home care. In California, close to 250,000 reports of suspected child abuse were taken in 2000, and almost half were confirmed as abused or neglected (a rate of 14 per 1,000 children).

At Mi Casa we care for 48 of those children in our 8 San Diego area shelters. It's too late to prevent harm from the children we serve but we know from experience that children can heal. We hope that healing begins or expands with us. We start with the basic needs all children have:

• The basics, such as food, clothing, shelter, and education

• Nurturing relationships,

• Opportunities to succeed, and

• Safety from harm