A major philanthropic investment is set to expand specialized care for some of Orange County’s most vulnerable children. Rady Children’s Health Orange County, formerly known as CHOC, announced a $10 million gift from Mrs. Cari Peets and Family to strengthen and grow its Resilience Program, which serves children who have experienced abuse, neglect, and other forms of trauma.
The gift will support the newly opened Mrs. Cari Peets and Family Resilience Clinic, a comprehensive center designed to bring medical care, mental health treatment, social work services, care coordination, and caregiver support together under one roof. Hospital leaders say the goal is to reduce the barriers families often encounter when seeking services from multiple providers while ensuring children receive timely and coordinated care.
For Orange County’s foster youth population, the need is significant. More than 3,000 children are currently in foster care, with roughly half under the age of six. Many of these children face overlapping medical, developmental, behavioral, and social challenges that can be difficult for families and caregivers to navigate.
According to Rady Children’s Health, the multidisciplinary clinic includes a pediatrician specializing in child abuse, general pediatric providers, a child psychologist, social workers, and care managers. Plans are already underway to expand the team with additional specialists, including a foster parent coach and child life specialist.
The Gift Creates a Permanent Funding Source
In addition to funding clinical services, the donation establishes the Mrs. Cari Peets and Family Chair in Childhood Resilience, an endowed position intended to support the Resilience Program permanently.
Endowed chairs are common at major academic medical institutions because they generate investment income that can fund clinical innovation, research, staffing, and program development indefinitely. Dr. Charles Golden, who leads the Resilience Program, will serve as the inaugural chairholder.
The Peets family’s support of pediatric healthcare in Orange County has grown steadily in recent years. Their total giving to Rady Children’s and CHOC initiatives now exceeds $11 million. They have also served as presenting sponsors of the CHOC Let’s Talk: Mental Health Luncheon and have helped fund research into rare pediatric metabolic disorders.
How CHOC Became Part of Rady Children’s Health
While many Orange County residents still know the hospital system as CHOC, the organization formally became part of the larger Rady Children’s Health network following a landmark healthcare transaction completed in January 2025.
That transaction combined the parent organizations of Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) and Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego to create one of the nation’s largest pediatric healthcare systems.
Unlike a traditional corporate acquisition in which a buyer purchases a company for cash, the transaction was structured as a nonprofit healthcare merger. The organizations combined under a unified parent system known as Rady Children’s Health. Financial terms of the merger were not publicly disclosed, and because both organizations were nonprofit entities, there was no conventional purchase price comparable to a private-sector acquisition.
The decision followed years of increasing collaboration among children’s hospitals as healthcare becomes more specialized, technology-intensive, and expensive. Leaders from both institutions argued that combining resources would allow them to expand access to specialized pediatric services, increase research capabilities, improve recruitment of top physicians, and create greater operational efficiencies.
For Orange County families, one of the most important practical outcomes is access to a much larger regional pediatric network while maintaining local care delivery.
Why the Merger Happened
Healthcare systems across California have faced mounting financial and operational pressures in recent years. Pediatric hospitals face additional challenges because children generally require highly specialized care that can be costly to provide and difficult to scale.
By combining forces, CHOC and Rady Children’s leaders sought to create a system capable of:
- Expanding pediatric subspecialty services across Southern California.
- Growing clinical research and innovation programs.
- Sharing physician expertise and best practices.
- Coordinating advanced treatments across multiple hospitals.
- Improving purchasing power and operational efficiency.
- Increasing access to specialty care in underserved communities.
- Strengthening long-term financial stability.
The merger also created a larger platform for philanthropy, allowing donors to support both local and regional initiatives while maintaining community-focused programs in Orange County and San Diego.
Synergies Between the Two Organizations
The combined organization now operates three hospitals and a growing network of primary and specialty care locations serving families across six Southern California counties.
Some of the most significant synergies include:
- Shared pediatric specialty programs and physician expertise.
- Greater access to clinical trials and research opportunities.
- Increased investment in cutting-edge treatments and technologies.
- Coordinated trauma care through two Level 1 pediatric trauma centers.
- More efficient administrative and operational functions.
- Expanded telehealth and specialty outreach services.
- Enhanced ability to recruit nationally recognized pediatric specialists.
Programs such as the Resilience Clinic may also benefit from access to broader expertise throughout the health system, allowing Orange County providers to collaborate more closely with specialists across the larger Rady network.
Two Distinct Histories, One Pediatric Mission
CHOC traces its roots to 1964, when Orange County civic leaders and physicians established a dedicated children’s hospital to serve a rapidly growing population. What began as a community-driven effort eventually evolved into one of California’s premier pediatric healthcare institutions, recognized nationally for specialties including neonatology, cardiology, neurosciences, cancer treatment, and mental health services.
Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego has an even longer history, dating back to 1954. Over the decades it grew into one of the premier pediatric hospitals in the western United States, serving children across Southern California and beyond while developing a national reputation for advanced pediatric medicine, research, and innovation.
Today, the combined Rady Children’s Health system represents more than 100 years of collective pediatric healthcare experience. Supporters say that scale positions the organization to tackle increasingly complex challenges facing children’s healthcare while preserving the community-focused missions that made both institutions successful.
The newly announced $10 million gift from the Peets family reflects that vision. By creating a permanent source of funding for trauma-informed pediatric care, hospital leaders hope the investment will help thousands of Orange County children who have experienced abuse, neglect, or other forms of trauma receive coordinated, compassionate care for decades to come.