About America’s Kids Belong
Every child wants to know there is somewhere they belong.
For children in foster care, that sense of belonging can become painfully uncertain. Home may change. Relationships can disappear. A child might move between families while wondering whether any of those places will ever become permanent.
America’s Kids Belong exists to change that experience.
America’s Kids Belong works to improve the lives of children in foster care by helping them find safe, loving families while building communities that support the adoptive families caring for them.
Because finding a family is incredibly important.
But helping that family succeed matters too.
Helping More Families Say Yes
Many people have thought about becoming foster parents but never make it much further than that first thought.
The process can feel overwhelming.
America’s Kids Belong tries to make that first step easier through its Fostering Front Door.
Instead of expecting someone to understand the foster care system before getting involved, people can begin by learning what fostering actually looks like and discovering where they might fit.
For some, that journey eventually leads to opening their home.
For others, it might reveal another way they can support children and families.
The important thing is helping people move from simply caring about foster care to understanding what they can actually do about it.
Helping Waiting Children Be Seen
When reunification with a biological family is no longer possible, some children remain in foster care waiting for an adoptive family.
That's where the I Belong Project comes in.
Rather than reducing children to profiles filled with statistics, the project gives them an opportunity to show something much more meaningful:
Who they are.
Children participate in carefully planned filming experiences where they can talk about themselves, share their personalities, and simply enjoy being kids.
Those videos help prospective adoptive families see the person behind the paperwork.
Each year, the project films hundreds of adoption-eligible children. Over the past decade, nearly 60 percent of the more than 3,000 children served through the program have been matched with adoptive families.
For a child who has spent years waiting, one story reaching the right family can change everything.
Making Communities Foster Friendly
Opening your home to a child is a major commitment.
Families shouldn't have to make that commitment alone.
America’s Kids Belong works to create Foster Friendly Communities where the people surrounding foster families understand what they're carrying and intentionally support them.
A restaurant might offer a discount. A church might create a ministry specifically supporting foster and adoptive families. A local organization might provide practical resources when a new child suddenly enters a home.
The Foster Friendly App helps connect families with those resources.
It turns foster care from something happening quietly inside individual homes into something an entire community can participate in supporting.
You Don't Have to Foster to Make a Difference
That's one of the most important ideas behind America’s Kids Belong.
Not everyone can become a foster parent.
But almost everyone can do something.
A business owner can support foster families through the resources they already have. A church can surround parents with meals, encouragement, childcare, and relationships. Community leaders can help bring organizations together so families know where to turn when they need support.
When those people begin working together, foster parents are no longer standing in the gap alone.
Children gain a wider community of people who want them to succeed.
Creating a Place to Belong
America’s Kids Belong was founded by Brian Mavis and grew from firsthand experiences with foster care into a national organization focused on changing the way communities respond to children and families.
Its vision goes beyond simply pointing out what's wrong with the foster care system.
It asks what could happen if communities actually surrounded the children and families living within it.
What if there were enough safe homes when children needed them?
What if foster families felt supported instead of isolated?
And what if children who couldn't return home had families waiting to welcome them permanently?
That's the future America’s Kids Belong is working toward.
At the heart of America’s Kids Belong is the belief that foster care shouldn't be carried by foster families alone. When families, churches, businesses, neighbors, and entire communities step forward together, children can experience something every child deserves—the security of knowing they are seen, loved, supported, and somewhere they truly belong.
