The SCV Child and Family Center is celebrating its 40th anniversary as a mental health resource in the community Friday.

KHTS AM-1220 spoke with Executive Director Lois Bauccio, who talked about the center’s humble beginnings from church donations and three women dedicated to investigating early childhood concerns to the 140-employee outreach center that helps more than 700 individuals each month.

A constant theme for the center has been a reliance on community partners and support from the Santa Clarita Valley.

“In the mid-1970s, it occurred to the people running the St. Stephen’s Church Preschool that there were always one or two kids that couldn’t settle down, make friends or be happy,” Bauccio said. “In an effort to figure out what was going on, they decided to investigate.”

The field of child psychology was in its nascent stages in those days, Bauccio said, and with few studies to look at, Liz Seipel from St. Stephen’s Preschool, Carol Gelsinger from Little Shepherds Preschool and Dr. Katie Clark, a local psychologist, founded the St. Stephen’s Special Children Center in 1976.

“And that was the beginning of their effort,” Bauccio said, “It was a part-time preschool and education classes for the parents.”

Through private donations and a county partnership that was struck between Seipel, who would become the center’s first CEO, and county Supervisor Michael Antonovich, shortly after his first election to the Board of Supervisors in 1980, the center was able to continually expand its services over the last four decades. The center is honoring Antonovich on Friday, June 17, at the center, for his longtime support. 

“The Child and Family Center is preparing to celebrate 40 years of service improving the live of the children and families of the Santa Clarita Valley,” said Tony Bell, spokesman for Antonovich.  “The county continues to support the Child and Family Center and looks toward future expansion to continue their services as an invaluable community resource, and a leader in mental health treatment.”

The county provides approximately 85 percent of the center’s budget through a mix of grants and pass-through state dollars, and the budget is supplemented by the city of Santa Clarita and donations, and overseen by the center’s current CEO, Joan Aschoff. 

The SCV Child and Family Center has been able to help thousands through this growth and expansion, which has seen the addition of a clinical team made up of psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists, case managers and the administrative support staff.

The center now operates the area’s only clinic that specializes in helping children and their caregivers experiencing thoughts of suicide or homicide, and recently added one-way glass instruction rooms, so a child care expert can observe parental interaction and offer guidance.

While the services have expanded, and the center now helps children and their caregivers dealing with a spectrum of concerns, including trauma, developmental disabilities, victims of violence (the center partners with the Santa Clarita Valley Domestic Violence Center, in which the former works with the child and the latter counsels the adult) and mental health disorders across the spectrum, its mission has revolved around a unifying theme.

“Ever since the beginning, the agency has understood the importance of not only dealing with a child who was traumatic or hiring in some way, but also the caregiver involved,” Bauccio said.

“There was only two to three children to begin with,” she said, referring the center’s roots in the space at St. Stephen’s, which was one of several homes “between pillar and post,” until the center formed a foundation that raised money to construct the center’s current home on Center Pointe Parkway.

“As the need grew, people started finding out about it,” she added. “And these ladies were asked to help, and it grew from there.”

If you would like information about the Santa Clarita Valley Child and Family Center or the services offered, contact 661-259-9439.