About the Lifelong Connections Program

" One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody."  
- Mother Teresa

Children and youth of all ages, regardless of the complexity of their needs and circumstances long for loving and lifelong connections. Those who are separated and disconnected from family often experience frequent mental health and behavioral issues, placement disruptions, school failures and risks to health and safety.

Children and adolescents who journey from foster home to foster home, hospital to residential care, and in and out of juvenile detention facilities are frequently displaced and in crisis. They are young, alone, and longing for a family, a home, a school with friends, and a neighborhood. All too often they have lost not only their parents, but also, brothers, sisters, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins.

The Lifelong Connection Program is a set of practices designed to locate, engage and support extended family resources for youth aging out of the foster care system. If a child has at least one dependable and caring adult in his or her life, it can be the anchor that sees them through even the most challenging times.

" The quality of a youth's support system is the greatest predictor of how well a young person will do. Our obligation is to help youth maintain relationships, reconnect youth with important people in their lives, and help them develop new relationships."
- Pew Commision on Children in Foster Care