Private agencies. Financed by donations, membership dues, corporate contributions, consultation fees, investment income, foundation grants, publication sales, or conference fees, they are established by individuals or philanthropic, religious, fraternal, or humanitarian groups; their management is the responsibility of a board of directors. The nation’s oldest and largest membership-based child welfare organization is the child Welfare league of america (cWla, 2002), founded in 1920. cWla’s member agencies directly provide at-risk children and families with services in the areas of child abuse prevention and treatment, kinship care, juvenile justice, family foster care, adoption, positive youth development, residential group care, child day care, family-centered practice, and adolescent parenting and pregnancy prevention. cWla’s trained staf address such issues as behavioral health care, substance abuse, housing and homelessness, and HiV/aiDs