Tennessee Kids Belong works to improve the experiences and outcomes for kids in foster care in Tennessee.
Our Programs
Family
Recruitment
Our flagship video storytelling project, I Belong ProjectTM, elevates the faces, voices and stories of kids in foster care who are legally free to be adopted to connect them with forever families.
Community
Engagement
Our innovative Foster Friendly program and app engage area businesses, faith communities and nonprofits to support kinship and foster parents with discounts, resources and support.
Coalitions for
Change
TKB has collaborated with the past two governors’ administrations to launch successful foster care initiatives that have helped the state exceed its recruitment and permanency goals five years in a row!
We’re Celebrating
Our Team
Kristin Allender
Executive Director
A social worker tied to foster care and adoption for 15+ years, Kristin serves as a bridge between the needs of the kids in foster care and the community resources needed to help all children and families thrive.
Tiffany Kelley
Associate Director
Community Engagement
MidCumberland and South Central Regions
As a professional in the Child Welfare System for 15+ years, Tiffany has worked within the public and private sectors, including for-profit and non-profit organizations, with a passion for supporting and stabilizing children and families “This is my calling as well as my passion.”
Liz Zinke
Programs Director
With an array of professional experience, Liz brings skills from her roles in music, marketing and nonprofits to every project she undertakes. Whether working with a small, grassroots organization or a national brand, her emphasis on storytelling engages followers to get involved. She has a passion for partnership and strives to make the right connections to create change. With a heart for foster care and adoption, she’s ready to make a lasting impact for children and families in Tennessee.
Kristin Miller
Community Engagement
Director
Community Engagement Director
Kristin has served on the leadership team for Knoxville Area Foster Care and Adoption Ministries (KAFCAM) since 2014. She and her husband, Jeremy adopted two daughters from Ghana in 2013 and have two biological sons. As a family nurse practitioner Kristin loves to combine medicine and child advocacy to bring healing to vulnerable kids and their families.
Stephanie Hamburger
Operations Manager
Stephanie has spent most of her career working in various nonprofits benefiting children and spent time volunteering/working in youth ministry. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education and is currently working on her Master’s in Public Service Management.
Carmen Brown
Communications and Marketing Manager
Carmen grew a heart for fostering when her parents provided respite to several of their fostering friends when she was growing up. Carmen has a gift for making kids feel welcome and safe at our I Belong Project shoots. After working for almost a decade in the wellness industry, Carmen came back to her marketing roots to help grow TKB’s reach.
Katie Dunlap
Community Engagement Manager – Shelby, Northwest and Southwest Regions
As a social worker, pastor’s wife and adoptive mom, Katie works to equip faith communities and other community groups to actively engage in foster care and adoption. She works with these groups to implement WRAP and other support programs.
Megan Epps
Community Engagement Manager – Davidson Region
Megan feels called to be an advocate for underserved groups and a voice for vulnerable children in foster care. She brings eight years experience in the corporate sector including with Deloitte LLP where she spearheaded several Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives. Megan believes intentional diversity is integral to a successful organization.
Emily Graffius
Community Engagement Manager – East, Tennessee Valley and Upper Cumberland Regions
Emily leads event planning, fundraising, volunteer recruitment, foster parent support and business partnerships to grow foster care awareness in Chattanooga. Emily has over 20 years experience working in the nonprofit sector and faith communities. She and her husband have two children who are adopted from foster care and two biological children, which make her life an incredible adventure! Bringing a voice to the voiceless is a deep passion of hers and she won’t stop advocating for foster and adoptive support across Tennessee. She serves on the board of her local foster adoptive association as well.
Aisha Ward
Community Engagement Manager – Northeast and Smoky Mountain Regions
Aisha brings a decade of experience raising awareness about the need for more foster parents and being a voice for vulnerable children in child welfare to her work with TKB. As long as there is a kid in need of a home, Aisha will be in the community, looking for solutions.
Our Board
Steve Martinez
Chairman
Steve has served the music industry as an agent, promoter, and artist manager for almost 25 years. In 2015, he relocated to Franklin, TN to start Stonewood Entertainment. After learning of national organization America’s Kids Belong’s mission, Steve and his wife, Jen, registered for PATH training and got involved with Tennessee Kids Belong.
Crissy Haslam
As First Lady of Tennessee from 2011-2019 Crissy advocated for many important children’s issues including foster care and adoption, parent engagement in education and reading proficiency across the state. She supported Imagination Library, third-grade literacy attainment and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). She and Bill have three children and eight grandchildren.
Mark Cate
Mark is founder and president of a public affairs firm in Nashville. He formerly served as a gubernatorial chief of staff, where he focused on education, child welfare, and other public policy issues affecting families and kids. Mark has served on many non-profit boards and provided consulting services focused on strategic planning and governance. Mark has supported TKB since its inception.
Katy Valesky
Treasurer
Katy has advocated in the child welfare system in Tennessee for 15+ years with a focus on influencing policy for at-risk youth, especially those aging out without a supportive adult. Katy holds an MSSW from The University of Tennessee.
Velvet Kelm
Secretary
Velvet has been an active supporter of TKB since its inception, She uses her gifts in P.R. and artist management and development, and as a connector to help bring awareness to vulnerable children in foster care. Professionally her company The Media Collective serves many big names in Nashville and beyond.
Joel Edwards
Upon learning in a church service about the need for filmmakers to elevate the faces and voices of kids in foster care, Joel was all-in. His Evolve Studios, produces premium content for Disney, National Geographic, ESPN, Netflix, Facebook, NBC Universal, HBO, Discovery and more. Evolve’s accolades include five national television Emmys and 40 nominations.
Brandy Whitehead
A social worker and early champions of TKB, Brandy and her husband, Darren, founded Church of the City which piloted our church collaboration model, including W.R.A.P. Brandy has been a leader in connecting churches with the mission of serving kids and families involved in foster care. Brandy also serves on the foster care review board for juvenile court in Williamson County.
Ryan McBride
Ryan was introduced to the world of foster care just a few years ago at a TKB event in Chattanooga. Upon learning of the need for the church to step up, he said “Yes” to partnering with TKB to serve vulnerable children in the Chattanooga area. Ryan is married to Emily. They have 3 kids, and he is a pastor at Ridgedale Church.
Download Tennessee Kids Belong’s 2022 Impact Report
FAQs
Here are answers to some common questions we receive about Tennessee Kids Belong.
About TKB
The Tennessee Kids Belong team covers all of Tennessee. Our central office is located in The Lodge, located at 1229 Lakeview Dr., Franklin, TN 37067. We have employees remotely located in Memphis, Chattanooga, Knoxville and Kingsport.
Tennessee Kids Belong officially launched in January 2016. Since February 2018 TKB has been an affiliate of America’s Kids Belong, with our own 501c(3) and board of directors. Our Tax ID# 82-4703564.
We are not a faith-based non-profit as we work with government, business, creatives, and faith communities. We do a lot of work with churches as Foster Friendly partners to recruit and provide support to help retain foster families.
Yes, we do.
Tennessee Kids Belong is an affiliate of America’s Kids Belong, which means we work in support of our shared mission and leverages AKB’s shared-services structure to help our affiliate operate efficiently and keep our state-based resources focused on achieving the mission.
About Our Work
No. All inquiries submitted are immediately directed to the Department of Children’s Services which assesses the potential match with the child. Please note – the first families who are considered are those with current home studies. If you have not heard back after submitting an inquiry, please email: Karen Chamberlain.
The only information we have available to share is in the child’s bio. The Department of Children’s Services works hard to protect the dignity and confidentiality of each child. Please submit an inquiry online if you would like to be considered as a potential family and learn more about a child.
Yes! Please do. This is the best way for each child to get the exposure they need to find just the right family. It may be one of your friend’s friends who sees the video and makes the decision to inquire about this specific child OR start them on a foster care journey.
Our goal is to educate the community to recognize the deepest need for children in foster care isn’t adoption; it’s belonging. Whether they find that with a foster, birth, adoptive, respite or support family, children deserve to experience unconditional belonging. Sixty percent of children in the state’s foster care system are eventually reunified with their birth families. We continually advocate for the beauty of reunification when it is safe for the child.
There are so many great nonprofits in this state doing incredible work. Many are meeting specific local needs. TKB works on a statewide macro level, equipping leaders in various sectors to make a difference for kids in foster care. We often refer groups to opportunities and needs that other non profits are meeting. We cheer on others in this space and believe collaboration is key.
Every day we meet individuals and families who are considering taking the leap to become foster parents. We know you probably have a lot of questions and would need more answers before committing. That’s normal. We host frequent panels, in-person and virtually, where you can hear from current foster families, child welfare professionals, and former foster youth.
Tennessee Kids Belong has a partnership with the Department of Children’s Services to complete videos of children who are available for adoption in TN. What this means- parental rights have been terminated, and at this point, there is not a permanent plan or family identified for the child. Children are often living in group homes or in foster family homes that are unable to keep them long term.
Work and Volunteer with TKB
Occasionally we have opportunities come up where we could use some help. This is often around the times of our monthly I Belong Project™ video shoots. Volunteers could be helpful with organizing new clothing donations, props for the shoot, set up, clean up, etc. Please note that in order to attend a video shoot and work with the children there will be a background check completed, phone interview with one of our staff, and training the day of the event. We have a very limited number of spaces available for these opportunities.
Fill out our volunteer form, so we can know how to best utilize your help. We are working throughout the state of TN and will contact you when needs arise in your area!
If you are interested in internship opportunities, email your resume to: info@tnkidsbelong.org and include “Internship Position” in your subject line.
Other employment opportunities will be posted on our social media or on Idealist
We are growing, so check back often!
About Funding
Your continued support will be used to:
- Apply cross-sector expertise to unite and engage government, faith, business & creative communities
- Form sustainable support systems for foster, adoptive, birth and at-risk families
- Host high-quality video shoots for waiting kids proven to increase their chances of adoption
- Provide trauma training and resources to churches and businesses to turn TN into the most “Foster Friendly” state in the country!
- Lead advocacy and awareness campaigns to turn an invisible issue into a growing initiative
Tennessee Kids Belong is funded through generous individual donors, grants and foundations who believe in our mission and vision of improving the experiences and outcomes for Tennessee kids in foster care.
