Kidsave International Inc

Weekend miracleskidsave's weekend miracles program helps older kids and teens in foster care (ages 9-18) find host families, permanent families, and enduring mentors. These children have often spent years in the child welfare system, with little realistic hope of adoption or stable adult connection. Weekend miracles provides these youth with opportunities to meet people who might be willing to host, mentor, or adopt them. At the core of the weekend miracles program are monthly interactive events, which are designed to make it easy and fun for older children and teens in foster care to meet new people. This approach increases engagement, builds self-confidence and self-esteem, and gives youth agency in their permanency journey. Once interested families and kids meet and get to know each other at kidsave's monthly connection events, relationships develop naturally. Youth who are interested in adoption are matched with host families who either hope to adopt, or work with kidsave to find families in the community who are interested in adopting an older child. Youth who are not interested in adoption are matched with a caring host mentor who provides support and guidance. In some cases, host families go on to adopt the children they host, while others serve as catalysts- supporting the youth at events and introducing them to potential adoptive families within their communities. Regardless of the path, the overarching goal of weekend miracles is to create lasting, supportive adult connections for older youth who are at risk of aging out of the foster care system without a family. By providing structured opportunities for youth to meet adults in a natural and relational setting, kidsave removes the barriers that often prevent older youth from finding permanent homes or committed mentors. Los angeles countyweekend miracles los angeles (wmla) is a public/private partnership, launched in october 2005 between kidsave and the county of los angeles department of children and family services (dcfs). In 2024 wmla hosted monthly connection events, serving 79 kids. Sixty-nine (69) of these youth actively participated in the los angeles program throughout the year. Thirty-three (33) of the 69 (48%) youth have achieved legal or relational permanency; 12 youth (36%) entered into an adoptive match; 3 youth (9%) now have legal guardians; 6 youth (18%) were reunified with biological family and 12 youth (36%) were connected with a mentor. Since october 2005 when wmla was launched, 645 older foster youth have participated in this program. Seventy-one percent (71%) of the foster youth who have participated in wmla have found adoptive families, devoted mentors, or legal guardians. Houstonweekend miracles houston (wmh) hosted its first connection event in october 2020. Since then, 150 children and teens have been served by this program. In 2024 wmh served 61 foster youth, 42 of whom remained active throughout the year. Sixty percent (60%) of the active youth were connected to weekend hosts, adoptive matches, legal guardians, or non-related extended family members. In 2024, wmh held 15 in-person connection events. The children served by wmh in 2024 come from more than 19 counties across texas, spanning eight dfps regions. Virginiain 2024 kidsave officially expanded its weekend miracles program into the commonwealth of virginia. Thanks to a partnership with the virginia department of social services, kidsave now serves older youth in foster care in central and northern virginia. We held our inaugural event in spotsylvania, virginia in december 2024, serving our first two virginia foster youth and three families.

Summer and winter miracleskidsave's summer miracles program brings older children (ages 9-15) from colombia-who are unlikely to be adopted in their home country-to the united states for family hosting visits. These children typically reside in institutional or foster care and have no prospects of reunification with biological family members. The program provides these children with a rich cultural experience and a unique opportunity to connect with families who are interested in adoption. During their visit, children stay with american host families who advocate for them by engaging their communities and personal networks to help identify prospective adoptive families. While the children enjoy recreational and bonding activities, the primary goal is to find each child a permanent, loving family. In 2024 kidsave facilitated both summer and winter miracles programs, bringing a total of 38 children from colombia to the u.s. Of the 38 children who traveled, 36 were found to be ready for adoption. Of the 36 children who were open to adoption, 34 children (94%) have been adopted or have a family pursuing their adoption. Since the program's launch in 1999, two thousand one hundred eighty-eight (2,188) older children have participated in this program. In advance of the visits, kidsave works closely with colombia's child welfare agency, instituto colombiano de bienestar familiar (icbf), to identify children suitable for the program. Kidsave also recruits and trains american host families, facilitating virtual pre-visit introductions via zoom. While in the u.s., the children participate in many "firsts"- fun events and outings including amusement parks, swimming, bowling, sports games, and other experiences that help build trust and connection with their host families and communities. After returning to colombia, kidsave continues to support adoptive families and collaborates with partner adoption agencies to ensure continuity and support. In 2024 kidsave's hosting communities were led by volunteer coordinators in the new york tri-state area, dc metro area, minnesota (twin cities), southern california, and other communities across the u.s. All community volunteers, host families, and kidsave staff championed each child to find them an adoptive family. In addition to the children hosted in summer and winter miracles communities, these children are placed with host families in cities throughout the continental u.s. Over time, the colombian government has adopted kidsave's family visit hosting model as its primary strategy for finding families for older, hard-to-place youth. Over the past 25 years, more than 65 placement agencies and nonprofit partners have participated in hosting initiatives modeled after kidsave's program.

The embrace projectkidsave launched the embrace project in 2022 to address the overrepresentation of black children in the foster care system in the united states. To better understand and begin to address this overrepresentation, kidsave collaborated with the gallup center on black voices on a survey. Our report, americans' views of u.s. Foster care: elevating black americans' perspectives & experiences, published in 2023, identified the top perceived barriers that keep adults from mentoring, fostering, or adopting children from foster care. With this data, kidsave launched a communications campaign to raise awareness regarding the overrepresentation of black children in the foster care system, the truth behind common misconceptions about mentoring, fostering, and adopting kids in the foster care system, and the availability of programs and resources that make these activities accessible. In 2024 we published supplementary reports to the original kidsave-gallup study. We also published secondary analysis reports from the 2023 kidsave-gallup study focused on survey responses from adults in california and texas, the lgbt community, and the hispanic/latinx community. While the embrace project was inspired by a need to address the overrepresentation of black kids in care, our findings support the need to address barriers to mentoring, fostering, and adopting children of all backgrounds. To address these findings, kidsave developed a pilot cultural responsiveness training program to provide foster and adoptive families with the knowledge and resources needed to care for children of diverse backgrounds and navigate historical challenges within the child welfare system. Launched in 2024, this training is now mandatory for all new kidsave families in our weekend miracles programs in los angeles county, houston, and the commonwealth of virginia. Collaborative partnershipsin 2024 in los angeles county, kidsave was active in several public-private sector committees that address permanency for los angeles county foster youth, which include: (1) the los angeles county adoption consortium, (2) the permanency collaboration committee, (3) casa of los angeles, (4) fosterall; (5) foster together network (ftn); (6) ftn's equity committee; (7) fostermore; and (8) raiseachild. Kidsave also developed strong relationships with local foster family agencies: pennylane, allies for every child and aviva, as well as with the following mentoring organizations: youth mentoring nexus, be a mentor, and the california mentoring partnership. In 2024 in texas, kidsave was a member of the region 6 foster care stakeholder collaborative, the texas alliance of child and family services, the greater houston lgbt chamber of commerce, the child welfare section of the texas state bar, the texas foster care association, the region 6 coalition of child serving sectors (ccss) community advisory committee, and the region 6 ccss building capacity committee. Kidsave also had memorandum of understanding, an agreement of two or more parties) with hearts with hope gro/rtc, open arms, open hearts gro/rtc, and the texas department of family and protective services (dfps). Additionally, program director tabitha charlton is serving a four-year term on the 15-member statewide inaugural partners for children and families committee(pcfc). In her role on the pcfc, she also is serving a two-year term on the placement subcommittee. In houston, kidsave partnered with the following child placement agencies in 2024: the sanctuary, arrow child & family services, and arms wide. Kidsave also collaborated with numerous additional gro/rtc organizations, ngos, and child placement agencies. In 2024 kidsave entered a partnership with the virginia department of social services (vdss) to launch our weekend miracles program in northern and central virginia. In 2024 in addition to vdss, our partners for weekend miracles virginia included project belong, paths for families, jewish family services, and cake4kids. Support for permanency initiativesas a voice for global change, kidsave works to build awareness among the public and in u.s. Congress about the challenges that children in government care face, and ways to help them. Kidsave uses its direct service programs to demonstrate how its family visit model works, and shares information about its programs with child welfare professionals with the goal of increasing permanency outcomes for older youth. Public education and outreachkidsave's website, blog, and social media posts focus on sharing information about children in need of families and bolstering engagement and support for the children through hosting, volunteering, donating, and adopting. In 2024 kidsave's advocacy images on social media platforms regularly reached 42,800 followers, in turn generating hundreds of inquiries and responses. Kidsave also uses events to educate people about kidsave's mission: the need for children worldwide to live in families, and specific children who need permanent families. Kidsave held two in-person galas in 2024 - one in los angeles and the other in washington, dc. Other events kidsave held in 2024 include a golf tournament in los angeles and hikes for foster youth in california, (los angeles and los gatos), houston, tx, and washington, dc.