Connect Our Kids

We are thrilled to announce that our Co-Founder and CEO, Dr. Jennifer Jacobs has been chosen as an AARP® Purpose Prize® Winner for her work at Connect Our Kids. This one-of-a-kind national award honors people ages 50 and older who have proven that they are using their knowledge and life experience to make a difference. AARP awards each Purpose Prize winner $50,000 for their organization. Honorees also receive a year of technical support to help broaden the scope of their organizations’ work. www.aarp.org/purposeprize The chance reading of an article about foster care led Jennifer to leave her career as a national security expert and instead turn her specialized knowledge toward searching for the extended families and connections of children in foster care. She co-founded Connect Our Kids to provide child welfare professionals with the same sort of advanced mapping software that was integral to her work in the national security space. You can learn more of her incredible story and her vision for the future of Connect Our Kids here: https://lnkd.in/d7C3EtuA We are beyond proud of Jennifer, and we are excited that this award will help us further our mission to create better outcomes for children in foster care! 🙌🎉 Photo by Stephen Voss for AARP.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve explored how supportive connections can enrich our lives in so many ways, and now we want to HEAR FROM YOU! 🗣️ We’re creating a space where stories can be shared and voices uplifted. Drop a comment or send us a message with your response to the question. Check out our Instagram/Facebook story in the coming days to see our favorite responses that we’ll be featuring! #ShareYourStory #SupportiveConnections #YourVoiceMatters #CommunityStories #WeHearYou #FosterChange #StoriesThatInspire #TogetherWeThrive #LiftEachOtherUp #VoicesOfHope #ConnectOurKids #SocialWork #FosterCare #RelationshipsMatter

TITLE: Pearl and Her Bunch: Celebrating every kind of family AUTHOR: Momoko Abe GENRE: Children’s Book A warm and witty book about what makes a family - featuring fruit, veg and families of all shapes and sizes! When little Pearl makes the startling discovery that she's not a grape like the rest of the bunch, she begins to question EVERYTHING! Can they really be her family if she doesn't look like them? An adventure around the house might just help her find the answer she's looking for... From the creator of Avocado Asks comes another brilliantly original exploration of identity, celebrating all family structures - including chosen families, blended families, and adoptive families. If interested, you can order a copy of Pearl and Her Bunch on Amazon at the link: https://lnkd.in/eaJiw8uM This book is part of the ongoing Connect Our Kids' Uncurated List of Foster Care Books series, where we bring awareness to books featuring foster care (and occasionally adoption or related topics). If you’ve read it, let us know in the comments below! Support our mission by clicking the donate link: https://lnkd.in/giYhTX_A #ConnectOurKidsUncuratedList #ConnectOurKidsFosterCareBooksAwareness #ConnectOurKidsRaisingVoices #PearlAndHerBunch #MomokoAbe #FosterCare #Inspirational #AdoptionBooks #ChildrensBooks #Illustration

We get it. Family search and engagement for children in foster care can be overwhelming. However, closing the door to the challenging work of engaging the family is never the solution. Connect Our Kids gives child welfare professionals the tools to make challenging work manageable and to create durable support on behalf of children in care. Do you want access to our tools? Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/eU6bJ3dv #SocialWorkersBeLike #SocialWorkMemes #FosterCare #ChildWelfare #Technology #TechForGood

Reunification becomes more achievable when social workers use our Family Connections and People Search tools. These platforms empower social workers to organize, research, and find connections for children in foster care and their families. Children need support networks in order to be well. Parents need support networks in order to do well. Connect Our Kids is here to help build those vital networks! #Maryland #FosterCareFacts #FosterCareStatistics #Reunification #SocialWork #Family #TechForGood #Innovation

Our Director of Outreach, Georgette Todd, MFA, was recently featured on the *Know Your Ancestors* podcast, where she shared some powerful insights. As Georgette mentioned, learning about our ancestors can help us "put the pieces together," as it did for her. For children in foster care, understanding their family history and connecting with those who came before them can provide a sense of direction, purpose, and belonging. At Connect Our Kids, we are dedicated to ensuring that children in foster care have the family, kin, and community connections they need to know they are not alone. Our technology tools are designed to make these connections possible. Watch the full podcast here: https://lnkd.in/dYterZaJ #KnowYourAncestors #ConnectOurKids #Geneology #FamilyTree #FosterCare #FosterKids #Podcast

Katherine Adams and Jennifer Jacobs represented Connect Our Kids at the From the Source Conference, hosted by The Volatility Foundation and generously sponsored by Volexity. We extend our heartfelt thanks to both organizations for their incredible support and for donating all event proceeds to benefit our mission at Connect Our Kids! AAron Walters Steven Adair #ConnectOurKids #TechForGood #FTSConference #Volatility #Volexity #FTSCon

✨ Meet Chandra Roberts, our Development Director at Connect Our Kids! ✨ Chandra’s personal story of kinship care drives her passion for helping foster children stay connected with their families. When her family faced overwhelming challenges, it was the support of relatives that kept her and her siblings together, changing the course of their lives. 💖 At Connect Our Kids, we work every day to ensure children in foster care experience that same life-changing opportunity to remain connected to family and community. We've already helped over 18,000 children across 11,000 families, making over 500,000 connections! Now, as we launch our Fall Fundraising Campaign, we need your help to continue this vital work. It costs us on average $500 to help connect a child in foster care to the supportive relationships that can change the path of his or her life. Will you help us make a difference? Every donation counts—whether it’s $20, $50, or more. 🙏 https://lnkd.in/giYhTX_A Read more about how we kept siblings Liliana, Lori, and Jared connected to each other and their community: https://lnkd.in/e93D7Xtf #FosterCare #KinshipCare #FamilyConnections #Donate #FallFundraiser #Support

TITLE: When the Stars Go Dark: A Novel AUTHOR: Paula McClain Genre: Mystery, Fiction FROM AMAZON: “Anna Hart is a seasoned missing persons detective in San Francisco with far too much knowledge of the darkest side of human nature. When tragedy strikes her personal life, Anna, desperate and numb, flees to the Northern California village of Mendocino to grieve. She lived there as a child with her beloved foster parents, and now she believes it might be the only place left for her. Yet the day she arrives, she learns that a local teenage girl has gone missing. The crime feels frighteningly reminiscent of the most crucial time in Anna’s childhood, when the unsolved murder of a young girl touched Mendocino and changed the community forever. As past and present collide, Anna realizes that she has been led to this moment. The most difficult lessons of her life have given her insight into how victims come into contact with violent predators. As Anna becomes obsessed with saving the missing girl, she must accept that true courage means getting out of her own way and learning to let others in. Weaving together actual cases of missing persons, trauma theory, and a hint of the metaphysical, this propulsive and deeply affecting novel tells a story of fate, necessary redemption, and what it takes, when the worst happens, to reclaim our lives—and our faith in one another.” If interested, you can order a copy of When the Stars Go Dark on Amazon at the link: https://lnkd.in/erdZB6bE This book is part of the ongoing Connect Our Kids' Uncurated List of Foster Care Books series, where we bring awareness to books featuring foster care (and occasionally adoption or related topics). If you’ve read it, let us know in the comments below! Support our mission by clicking the donate link: https://lnkd.in/giYhTX_A #ConnectOurKidsUncuratedList #ConnectOurKidsFosterCareBooksAwareness #ConnectOurKidsRaisingVoices #PaulaMcClain #FosterCareBooks #FosterCare #Inspirational #FosterCareBooks #Therapy #MysteryBooks #WhenTheStarsGoDark

EVERYONE deserves a supportive team that has their back when they need it most. 🏈💪 When tough or unexpected things happen in life, a good support network can help you recover. That is what Connect Our Kids gives to children in foster care--a support network that can help them not only recover but go on to thrive. #Football #NFL #FosterCare #SupportNetwork #SocialWorkMemes #SocialWorkersBeLike #SocialWork #Family #TeamWork