Barbara Sinatra Children's Center

Many of the children we see at the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center are either in Foster Care or are headed to Foster Care. Nearly 4000 children in Riverside County are placed in Foster Care annually. Most have suffered some type of abuse. The most recent research indicates that over a third of children in the foster system in California do not receive adequate pediatric care in a timely manner. We have worked diligently over the past few years to upgrade our medical offerings to children of abuse. Our Medical Director, and our Nurse Practitioner, have envisioned that the BSCC further our mission by providing required and follow-up medical examinations for our clients that are going into or are already in the Foster Care system. The goal is to provide identification of medical, developmental and mental health issues and have proper referrals in place to ensure health needs are identified and addressed at the earliest stage possible for this vulnerable population of children.

We look forward to helping these venerable children with both mental health services and now with wellness medical check-ups regardless of a family’s ability to pay.

The mission of the Barbara Sinatra Center for Abused Children is to counsel physically, sexually and emotionally abused children, and to focus on prevention, community education and breaking the cycle of generational abuse. No child is ever turned away due to a family’s inability to pay.

Founded in 1986 by Barbara and Frank Sinatra, the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center, located on the internationally acclaimed Eisenhower Health campus in Rancho Mirage, California, provides individual, group and family therapy, along with special programs that address issues associated with children suffering the effects of child abuse and neglect, and who are at risk of being abused.

Art therapy is a form of expressive therapy used by therapists in counseling to treat and encourage people to heal through a creative process. Funding from the Anderson Children’s Foundation will support the “Family Art Project” which was initiated by the Helen B. Landgarten Art Therapy Clinic at Loyola Marymount University, and will provide financial assistance for the purchase of materials, as well as travel and lodging for a credentialed Family Art Therapist from the university to conduct therapy sessions with each of our six therapists and clients. The project will add a new dimension to the art therapy currently applied at the Center by incorporating the family unit, and will provide the therapists with new insight to determine family dynamics and improve their ability to establish effective treatment planning and family therapy for child victims of abuse.

The Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center has helped over 21,000 Coachella Valley children since 1986. Many of these children have suffered the trauma of abuse, neglect, or been witness to violence. Recently there has been a significant increase in the need for law enforcement to accompany children to the Barbara Sinatra Children's Center in order to conduct either a forensic interview or a forensic medical exam of reported sexual or physical abuse. The Children's Center provides a child friendly environment along with the needed state-of-the-art equipment in order to gather the proper evidence to help prosecute the perpetrators of these child abuse crimes.

Additionally, because law enforcement can use this facility, it allows for the guardians of the child victims to immediately meet with the Children's Center intake coordinator to begin the counseling (healing) process for the child and their family. The alternative for law enforcement is to transport the child to the County Hospital in Moreno Valley or conduct an interview in a police station. In both of those cases, the access to immediate triage for counseling does not exist.

The Irene W. and Guy L. Anderson Children's Foundation has awarded a grant to the Barbara Sinatra Center for Abused Children, to help with costs of providing forensic services, intake sessions, initial counseling evaluations, and the development of a therapeutic plan to 55 child victims of abuse. The Center’s therapists will use a variety of therapeutic methods to help reduce the behavioral and emotional issues that are affecting the child. The counseling teaches skills to modify beliefs, identify distorted thinking, how to better manage anger, better communicate, and heighten self-esteem and self-confidence.