Falls Church, VA. —February 28, 2023—Connect Our Kids, a non-profit organization pioneering technology to find families, build connections, and create community for America’s most vulnerable people, announced today that it will be featured during a Main Stage session at RootsTech 2023, where it will announce details of its unique services as a solutions provider for FamilySearch, a nonprofit and the world’s largest genealogy organization. Connect Our Kids makes family history information more accessible for children in the foster care system who may not have contact with extended family members or their cultural roots.

As the world’s largest family history conference being held in Salt Lake City, Utah, and virtually, RootsTech gathers a large global audience and features 1,500+ sessions on 185 topics. Keynote speakers in 2023 will include inspiring, motivational stories, and introduce innovations related to genealogy research, including Connect Our Kids.

As one of the country’s most successful family discovery and engagement platforms, Connect Our Kids creates cost-free technology resources for social workers, child advocates, and CASA volunteers. The organization’s premier tool, Family Connections, is an online and mobile app used to find contact information for extended families and supporters of children in foster care and those who have aged out or are homeless. Family Connections has been used to make connections for thousands of children each year since Connect Our Kids launched the tool in 2020.

The collaboration announcement and presentation will occur on March 3 during the 11:00 a.m. MST Main Stage session. Leaders from both organizations, as well as individuals who have personally lived in foster care, will be present.

“We are delighted to collaborate with Connect Our Kids so that our vast family history resources can help identify extended family connections for children in the American foster care system and give them a sense of their cultural history and even their family’s story,” says Scott Stout, Vice President, FamilySearch International.

“Learning about family history can rewrite the script for children who have been in foster care. They may find a new sense of identity and pride in their family roots,” agrees Jessica Stern, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Connect Our Kids.

“The connection with FamilySearch rounds out our mission. Our tools search over 300 sources to help build family trees of relationships and now we can include family histories too.” adds Dr. Jennifer Jacobs, a national security expert turned Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Connect Our Kids.

Connect Our Kids benefits from the growing support of its partners and advisors, including input from the White House Fellows, CASA volunteers, and noted trauma-informed therapists. By bringing together technologists and child welfare advocates, the platform fills a much-needed gap in the system, accelerating the support and caring relationships that change lives and help heal trauma.

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Contact: Jessica Stern

Email: [email protected]

Direct: 850-598-0047

Connect Our Kids is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization started in 2017 to apply modern technology to extended family search and engagement. The organization develops free software tools, including People Search and Family Connections, to assist welfare professionals in helping children in foster care and other vulnerable groups. Connect Our Kids works with direct service partners, funding partners, strategic and advocacy partners, and some of the largest technology companies in the world. In use across 44 states, the Connect Our Kids platform fills a much-needed gap in the child-welfare system, accelerating the support and caring relationships that change lives and help heal trauma. www.ConnectOurKids.org