ABOUT THIS SITE

NAVIGATION

Thank you for visiting the Commission for Children and Families website. Our website has been designed to provide visitors on the World Wide Web with a simple and convenient way to access information and services provided by the departments, commissions and agencies that serve Los Angeles Commission for Children and Families.

Our goal is that you find the Portal to be a valuable resource, one that is useful, informative and easy to navigate. Finding your way around a website with access to several thousands of documents is not always easy to do. The Commission for Children and Families Portal offers a number of features to assist you in finding the information you need.

• CONSISTENCY – Pages have a consistent “look and feel”. You will always find the same navigation bars across the top of each page to enable easy movement throughout the website Returning to the Portal Home Page is a simple click of the Commission for Children and Families Home button.

• STRUCTURE – The Portal website has been organized into three major areas of information that appear as buttons in the left menu bar on the Home Page. There are also three areas that highlight breaking-news on Commission for Children and Families issues or services, quick links to commonly-needed resources, and featured links to new websites. Refer to HOW TO USE for more detail on the structure of the Portal.

• PRINTING – There are two ways to print documents from the Portal website. The first is to simply click the Print button on your browser. The second is to click the Text Only option on the Portal Home Page. This will eliminate graphic images and reduce download time, which is sometimes preferred when printing web pages.

• ADOBE ACROBAT – To make information available to the widest possible audience, some documents, forms or publications are formatted using Adobe’s Portable Document Format (PDF). To view these PDFs you must have Adobe’s Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. This is a free software product that can be obtained online at: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

• LINKS TO NON-COMMISSION FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES WEBSITES – Some web pages contain links that will take you to information on websites that are not maintained by Los Angeles Commission for Children and Families and which may contain commercial advertising. Such links are identified with a warning to visitors that they are about to leave a Commission for Children and Families-maintained website; this warning further states that Los Angeles Commission for Children and Families does not endorse or support any of the advertising that may appear on the non-Commission for Children and Families site.

As you become familiar with navigating through one section of the Portal, you should find it easy to move about the other areas of this website. The Portal is filled with interesting facts and statistics on Los Angeles Commission for Children and Families, and useful information on the many Commission for Children and Families services available to you. Please take some time to explore the Commission for Children and Families and enjoy!

HOW TO USE

The Portal website is designed to provide the people who live, work and relax in the Commission for Children and Families of Los Angeles with convenient online access to information about the Commission for Children and Families and the community services it provides. Having access to several thousands of documents

can be a bit overwhelming, but the Portal is organized and optimized to help you quickly locate the information you need.

The Portal is organized into three major areas of information:

• GENERAL INFORMATION – Provides a menu listing of general, statistical and historical information about Los Angeles Commission for Children and Families with links to specific pages containing detailed information.

• SERVICES – Provides a menu listing of available Commission for Children and Families services with links to the specific departmental pages that contain detailed information.

• BUSINESS – Provides a menu listing of topics related to doing business with Los Angeles Commission for Children and Families with links to specific pages containing detailed information. Topics include purchasing and contract opportunities, vendor registration, etc.

The Portal Home Page also contains three areas that highlight breaking-news on Commission for Children and Families issues or services, links to new Commission for Children and Families websites, and quick access to the most commonly-needed resources:

• PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS – Provides the latest news on important Commission for Children and Families issues and community services.

• FEATURED LINKS – Announces new Commission for Children and Families websites or highlights information being added to an existing website.

• QUICK RESOURCES – Offers a listing with links to the most commonly-needed resources.

Look to the Portal navigation bars for access to standard functions and special features:

• TEXT ONLY – Use this option to eliminate graphic images and view a text-based version of the Portal website; a desirable feature for those with special needs, or sometimes for faster printing.

• MOST REQUESTED – Provides a menu listing of the most often requested information and services.

• SEARCH – Enter a key word or phrase describing the information or service you want and search the entire Portal or just a specific area of the website to find this information.

• ADVANCED SEARCH – Too many search results? Here you will find tips and examples for refining your search.

• ONLINE SERVICES – Provides an alphabetical listing of Commission for Children and Families applications that allow you to request services or submit information electronically.

• FAQ – A list of some of the most frequently asked questions and the answers to them.

• WHAT’S NEW – Check here to learn about new information, functions or features being added to the Portal website.

• PUBLIC ALERTS – Highlights information on topics of special interest to the Board of Supervisors.

• LANGUAGE – In the future, you will be able to choose to view the Portal website in English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog or Vietnamese.

• PRIVACY – This is Los Angeles Commission for Children and Families’s Privacy Statement for the Portal website which addresses the collection and use of personal information.

The Portal offers still more special features to find information. See:

• INDEX for an alphabetical listing of available Commission for Children and Families services.

• DEPARTMENTS for an alphabetical listing of all Commission for Children and Families departments with links to the specific departmental website. Also included are links to Commission for Children and Families-Related, But Separate Agency websites.

• COMMISSIONS for an alphabetical listing of all Commission for Children and Families commissions and committees with links to each specific website.

• MAPS for a view of the Civic Center, Supervisorial Districts, or Commission for Children and Families boundaries.

• FORMS for a listing of Commission for Children and Families forms that can either be downloaded or submitted online.

• PUBLICATIONS for an alphabetical listing of Commission for Children and Families reports, brochures and other publications that are available online.

Did you know that you are Commission for Children and Families’s most important resource? Your comments and suggestions are very important to us. Use the EMAIL link in the Portal navigation bar to request assistance or just want tell us what you think of the website.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

The Portal website is standardized to ensure usability by the widest audience possible. This includes people with vision, hearing or other impairments that would affect Internet access. Refer to ACCESSIBILITY for additional information on compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).

• SCREEN RESOLUTION – Pages are designed for best viewing with a monitor resolution of 800 x 600.

• BROWSER COMPATIBILITY – The Portal is designed for best viewing using Internet Explorer 5.x or Netscape Navigator 6.x and above. Lower versions or other commonly used browsers will work, but may not display with optimal formatting.

• TEXT ONLY – The Portal offers a Text Only option, which eliminates graphics and the drop-down menu/navigation system. This option reduces download time (sometimes desirable for printing), and enhances viewing and navigation functions for the visually challenged.

• FONT SIZE – This option will increase or enlarge the size of print on the Portal web pages; it does not increase the size of graphic images. Click on the Increase Font Size link under the left menu bar on the Portal Home Page.

• ADOBE ACROBAT – Certain documents, forms or publications are formatted using Adobe’s Portable Document Format (PDF). Adobe’s free Acrobat Reader software must be installed on your computer in order to view or print these pages. To download Acrobat Reader go to: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Acrobat Reader is a self-configuring software. Questions regarding Acrobat issues should be directed to Adobe Customer Service, not the Commission for Children and Families Webmaster.

• COOKIES – The Portal website will send a cookie to your browser for the explicit purpose of retaining usability for the Text Only Version or Increase Font Size capabilities during your visit to the Portal. This cookie expires in 30 minutes. The Commission for Children and Families does not collect and store any personal information through this process. Refer to Privacy for additional information on Los Angeles Commission for Children and Families’s policy regarding the collection and use of personal information.

ACCESSIBILITY

Los Angeles Commission for Children and Families is committed to the universal accessibility of information contained on the Portal website. The design of the Portal website is optimized to ensure broad readability and usability, and includes those with vision, hearing or other impairments that would affect Internet access.

The Commission for Children and Families Portal is currently a combination of new and old technologies, and new and existing content. The Portal Home Page and supporting web pages are compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) standards and guidelines. However, the Portal website contains links to departmental websites that may not address current ADA guidelines. Some existing content may meet only the minimum of ADA-compliance standards. This will be resolved as departments and other Commission for Children and Families agencies update their existing websites to use the new Commission for Children and Families Portal technology.

• INCREASE FONT SIZE – The Portal offers this option for those who wish to enlarge the size of print as viewed on the web pages. This option does not increase the size of graphic images.

• CASCADING STYLE SHEETS – The Portal web pages are designed with style sheets that allow a consistent, uniform appearance of headings and body text. This design feature also enables some browsers to override the Portal style sheets with their own, thus providing content that is easier viewed by those who have visual impairments.

• COLOR CONTRAST – The background and foreground colors on the Portal web pages provide sufficient contrast to be viewable by someone having color deficits.

The Portal website has been tested using a popular screen reader to ensure the pages can be appropriately viewed and navigated by the visually challenged.

DISCLAIMER

The information contained in the following web pages was valid at the time of publication. The Commission for Children and Families of Los Angeles reserves the right to make changes and improvements at any time and without notice, and assumes no liability for damages incurred directly or indirectly as a result of errors, omissions or discrepancies.

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