RootsTech, the largest genealogy event in the world, is a place where many organizations come together to help people find connection and belonging through family history. There is, perhaps, no audience that needs this connection more than children who have lost their immediate family. This year at RootsTech, Connect Our Kids, a nonprofit organization that is pioneering technology to help foster children find families, build connections, and have a community, will be live on the RootsTech main stage on Friday, March 3.
The Family Connections platform created by Connect Our Kids provides tools to child welfare professionals so they can find and contact extended families of youth in foster care—with the mission of connecting them to safe relatives and natural support networks that can offer lifelong connections, support, and belonging.
”Knowing your family history helps you know who you are and where you come from. This information helps to heal trauma,” said Jessica Stern, co-founder of Connect Our Kids. “FamilySearch is an incredible and powerful tool for children in foster care to discover their roots, which leads to healing trauma and moving into adulthood with confidence.”
Jennifer Jacobs and Jessica Stern, co-founders of Connect Our Kids, will share their organization’s incredible story in person at RootsTech 2023 in Salt Lake City, Utah, and live online at RootsTech.org.
Placing Foster Kids with Safe Relatives and Building a Support Network
Connect Our Kids relies on 300+ public databases to help child welfare professionals find potential connections to living relatives for those in the foster care system. Before Connect Our Kids, social workers and volunteers had only their own sleuthing skills and a combination of web searches, telephone calls, knocking on doors, and social media searches—an arduous and time-intensive process. With Family Connections, an online and mobile app, the search process can begin in seconds, right from a smartphone.
Research shows that foster placement in the home of extended family and natural support networks is safer for the youth and increases the likelihood of success significantly. This can include reduced trauma, higher participation in extracurricular activities, higher levels of employment, and preserved family connection. An estimated 100,000 children in the United States are currently waiting for permanent placement due to the termination of parental rights. Another 400,000 are in the foster system and could benefit from Connect Our Kids technology tools.
The Family Connections platform is available free of charge to child welfare professionals at ConnectOurKids.org due to the generosity of family foundations and private donors.
Join Us at RootsTech to Hear from the Founders of Connect Our Kids and More
“The theme of RootsTech 2023 is ‘Uniting,’” says Jen Allen, director of marketing over the RootsTech conference. “We are pleased to use the RootsTech conference to help raise awareness for this important cause of uniting children with family members who can help them succeed in life.”
The RootsTech 2023 conference will have lots of opportunities to connect with your past, unite with people from all over the world, and find inspiration of all kinds. Join us in person or online on March 2–3, 2023, or come visit the RootsTech site any time for on-demand educational and inspirational videos. See how organizations like Connect Our Kids are making a difference, and find your own family story.
What Is RootsTech?
RootsTech is a place to learn, be inspired, and make connections through family history. Hosted by FamilySearch and sponsored by other leading genealogy organizations, we have hundreds of expert classes, tips and tricks videos, and inspiring stories that can help you experience family history like never before. Visit our on-demand learning library, or make plans to join us for our next virtual or in-person conference event.
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