Families stay together.
Children of all ages are welcome at Rainbow alongside their parent or guardian survivor, from newborns through teenagers, in families of every size and shape.
We also welcome expectant mothers. Services adapt as the family grows.
Rainbow does not separate families. Across every residential program and every service, children remain with their parent or guardian. This is not a policy preference or an operational accommodation. It is a foundational design principle. Asking a parent to choose between their safety and their children’s presence would be a barrier to safety, not a support for it. Children are safest with the parent or guardian who is receiving services.
Basic support. You lead. We back you up.
Rainbow provides basic supportive services for children during their family’s stay. These services are designed to support the parent or guardian’s recovery process and to give children a consistent, safe environment, not to replace the parent’s role or to run a parallel program.
Children have access to designated safe spaces within the residential program where they can play, rest, and decompress. The residential environment is designed for families, not just adults. Shared spaces are child-appropriate.
Trained advocates maintain consistent, familiar relationships with children during their stay. Children benefit from predictable adult presence. Staff who know their names, recognize their routines, and show up reliably. Consistency is itself a service for children who have experienced household instability.
Children may have questions about what is happening, why they are living somewhere new, and what comes next. Advocates are trained to provide honest, age-appropriate information to children in ways that support rather than alarm them. This is honest, calm communication. Not therapy.
Staying in shelter involves disruptions to school attendance, healthcare appointments, and daily routines. Case managers assist parents and guardians in managing these logistics (connecting to schools, arranging transportation, maintaining medical care) so that the disruption to children’s routines is minimized.
What basic support doesn’t include.
Rainbow’s children’s services are clearly scoped. Being clear about what we do not provide protects children, supports parents in understanding what to expect, and maintains the integrity of the program’s design.
- 01BASIC SUPPORT, NOT TREATMENT
Rainbow advocates are not licensed therapists or counselors. If a child needs therapy, advocates will provide a warm referral to licensed child mental health providers in the community. The residential environment is supportive, designed for safety and continuity rather than treatment.
- 02PARENT-LED CARE
Rainbow is not a licensed childcare center. Children remain in the care of their parent or guardian throughout the residential stay. Advocates do not provide childcare services that would allow parents to be separated from their children for extended periods. Support is provided alongside the parent, not instead of them.
- 03EDUCATIONAL CONTINUITY, NOT TUTORING
Rainbow does not provide academic tutoring or homework help as a formal service, and there is no extracurricular programming run by advocates. The residential environment is designed to help parents maintain children’s connections to their own schools and educational supports, minimizing disruption.
Infants through 17. All ages welcome.
Children of all ages are welcome alongside their parent or guardian survivor across all Rainbow programs and residential sites. Age is never a barrier to shelter. If a family includes an infant, a toddler, a school-age child, and a teenager, all of them come together. The program accommodates the full range of children’s ages and needs.
Infant-appropriate accommodations at both residential sites.
Safe indoor and outdoor play environments.
Support maintaining connection to enrolled schools.
Age-appropriate engagement, autonomy respected.
What we keep private. What we’re required to report.
All communications between survivors and Rainbow advocates are protected under California Evidence Code §1037.1. The location of Rainbow’s residential programs is confidential under VAWA. These protections apply to all family members, including children.
Rainbow will not share information about you or your children with law enforcement, courts, the other party in your case, or family members without your written consent, except where California mandatory reporting law requires.
Rainbow staff are mandatory reporters under California law. This means that if an advocate has reasonable suspicion that a child is being abused or neglected (by anyone, including the other parent) they are required by law to make a report to the appropriate county child welfare agency.
Your advocate will explain this at the start of your first session. Mandatory reporting is a legal obligation, not a Rainbow policy. It applies regardless of what the survivor wants, and cannot be waived.
Note: mandatory reporting applies to child abuse and neglect, not to domestic violence victimization of the parent. Experiencing DV does not trigger a mandatory report about you.
Specialized partners for children’s needs.
Rainbow coordinates with community partners who specialize in children’s needs that fall outside our core services. Warm referrals are made through your case manager.
Provides tutoring and educational continuity for children experiencing homelessness and housing instability, including children in shelter.
Licensed child therapists and counselors available through warm referral when a child needs therapy beyond Rainbow's scope.
Local clinics and health system partners who support children's medical continuity during shelter and transitional housing stays.