Mission Statement
Kidsave is a section 501(c)(3) charitable organization that works to create change so that forgotten orphanage and foster youth grow up in families and connected to caring adults. Since its founding in 1997, Kidsave has worked with public partners (regional child welfare agencies and governments) to design and implement programs based on its Family Visit Model. This model, developed through best practices research and refined through direct experience, has spawned the following programs: (a) Weekend Miracles focuses on permanency for local foster youth; (b) Summer Miracles brings orphaned children from foreign countries to the U.S. for summer visits; and (c) family placement and mentoring programs in Russia, Colombia and Sierra Leone. Kidsave also facilitates the advocacy, training and ancillary work to support and expand these activities.
Description
Kidsave's Weekend Miracles Program finds permanent families for older children in the U.S. foster care system through a combination of weekend visits, advocacy and outreach. Weekend visits allow host families the opportunity to get to know older foster youth who are eligible for adoption and to introduce them to friends, family and associates.
The U.S. Summer Miracles program provides an opportunity for older orphaned children, who are growing up in orphanages overseas, to stay with U.S. families across the U.S. for four weeks each summer. Kidsave trains the host families, and through its vast volunteer community, recruits people who are interested in adoption.
Through Kidsave's programs in several regions of Russia: (a) orphaned children find foster families; (b) orphaned children stay with local families during the summer, holidays and weekends; (c) emancipating orphans learn skills to prepare for life outside their orphanages; (d) teenage mothers learn to care for their babies; and (e) families and social workers are trained.
Kidsave's Colombian program, Lazos de Familia, was launched in 2007 with the Instituto Colombiano Bienestar Familiar, Colombia's national child welfare system. Lazos is a child advocacy and family recruiting program that helps abandoned children ages 7 to 18 find permanent families and long-term mentors.
