Kinship Center: Seneca Family of Agencies

Carol Bishop, Statewide Adoption Policy Director

Board Secretary

Carol J. Bishop is Seneca Family of Agency’s Regional Executive Director for the Central Coast in California, and Statewide Director of Adoption Policy. She was the co-founder, in 1984, of Kinship Center, a non-profit agency that focuses on finding and creating permanent families for children, and providing a continuum of post adoption, mental health and relative caregiver supports. In 2011, Kinship Center merged with Seneca, resulting in broadening services for youth and their families. In her role at Seneca, Carol provides guidance for adoption policy, while also overseeing a variety of programs for her region.

Seneca Family of Agencies was founded in 1985 by advocates who wanted to better meet the needs of children in group homes and foster family care. Seneca established itself as an innovative leader in the provision of unconditional care through a comprehensive continuum of school, community-based and family-focused treatment services for children and families experiencing high levels of trauma who are at risk for family disruption or institutional care for the children.

In 2011, a strategic merger with Kinship Center formed Seneca Family of Agencies. In 2012, Canyon Acres Ranch was incorporated into the Orange County programs of Kinship Center, expanding the local base of mental health, wraparound, child placement, family finding and professional and parent training services.

Kinship Center, founded in 1984, specializes in adoption, foster care, family-based services, child and family mental health care, along with parent and professional post graduate training. The merger into Seneca Family of Agencies expands Kinship Center's landmark work in California of creating, supporting, educating and providing mental health services to families built by adoption and relative caregiving.