Eight years ago my husband and I were driving away from an orphanage in Congo, with our newly adopted eight-month-old daughter. Behind us was a line of older children standing shoulder to shoulder on the orphanage porch, crying. At one…
Are you considering opening your heart and home to a child in need? Foster care and adoption can be life-changing experiences for both child and caregiver. But understanding the different goals and process for each path is important. Fostering itself…
Our co-founder, Brian Mavis likes to say, “A good family is better than a great program.” And it’s true. For kids in foster care, the gift of belonging in a family can prevent severe social wounds – like trafficking and…
While foster care is a system designed to protect and provide safety for children, there are many layers to the experiences that a child has to process and heal from. Lindy Green Johnson, LCSW, defines it this way…”Trauma in general…
A year ago, my husband and I became legal, adoptive, forever kind of parents to four incredible humans. As they looked on we raised our right hands and promised before God, the judge, our lawyer, a courtroom packed with friends…
Laura Drevlow, a foster and adoptive mom from South Dakota, understands what it means as a child to want to belong, to be loved. When she was fourteen, a teacher took her in and eventually adopted her after she disclosed…
We all live our lives inside of a grand “life story.” Within this overarching story we have many stories that make up the days of our lives. Stories from the past and present and future stories unlived and unwritten. Many…
A sobering crisis. We all hear the figures and see the facts similar to the staggering news story that ran on Father’s Day weekend in 2022 entitled, “America’s crisis is a lack of fathers.” To summarize: there are nearly 18.5…
Meet Jonathan Arce. If anyone understands the power of video to connect people with a message it is Jonathan. A successful motion graphic designer with Savage Media in Nashville, he also volunteers as a videographer with our I Belong Project,TM…
What would it look like if instead of spending your new year resolve on self-improvement, you made a commitment to dramatically improve the experiences and outcomes for kids in foster care? We have 400,000+ reasons to make this issue your…
Does America’s Kids Belong support guardianship? Absolutely. AKB promotes permanency for a child through any method that is best for the youth. Permanency options include reunification, guardianship, and adoption. AKB does not have the authority to make the decisions for…
When Amy and Cory Flynn started dreaming together about how to share their love and resources by expanding their family they asked a simple question: “Could we really consider foster care?” Discover The Surprising Answer It all started with a…
