Community Connections Celebrates 20 Years

By Traci Sanders

In March 2022 Community Connections celebrated twenty years of helping place local children in loving foster homes, with some eventually moving on to being adopted into their forever homes.

Executive Director Karen Jackson co-founded and established Community Connections in 2002, having extensive experience in the child welfare realm since 1994. Community Connections serves as the middleman between the Division of Family and Children Services and individual foster homes where children are placed. The mission of Community Connections is to support Georgia’s children in foster care by providing comprehensive services and transformative partnerships with families and the larger community.

I recently spoke to Emily Stone, Community Engagement Specialist with Community Connections, who shared that they have forty-three certified homes in their network and fifty-eight kids have currently been placed in loving environments. The website houses multiple stories and pictures of children being fostered and adopted through their services. “We are also very proud of the fact that although we serve all children in foster care,” Emily Stone said, “we often place children in foster care with medically fragile needs such as g-tubes, prosthetic limbs, wheelchair mobility, and more. Our vision is for children to thrive in safe and healthy family environments.”

Applicants for foster parenting must live in the Metro-Atlanta area, be at least 25 years of age, be financially self-sufficient, pass criminal background checks through CPS, have references available, and complete a medical evaluation and drug screen. More information can be found on their website.

Currently, Community Connections has sixteen staff members on board. They also house the Closet Connection inside their corporate office where their foster families can shop for gently used donated items for no charge and are encouraged to take as much as they need. Community Connections also partners with volunteers from Side by Side Clubhouse, an organization that services families of traumatic brain injuries.

Community Connections will celebrate this twenty-year milestone with a fundraiser with their staff, foster families, volunteers, and the community.

Every child deserves a safe and loving environment, and Community Connections is doing their part to make that happen.

More information at https://www.c-connections.com/.