What your gift means

Every young person deserves a safe, loving family that can help them reach their full potential. When children and youth enter foster care, it’s not because of anything they did. And while entering foster care is traumatic, it doesn’t have to be defining.

Whether they return to their biological families, move in with relatives, enter a guardianship, or are adopted, young people who have experienced foster care can and do thrive. But they need advocacy, a voice in their own futures, caregivers trained to meet their needs, and often a range of other supports.

No child welfare system, however well run, can meet every young person’s unique needs on its own. That’s why systems depend on private organizations like Alongside to stay nimble and creative—filling gaps public funding can’t reach and using what we learn on the ground to design and test better ways to do this work.

Your gift makes that possible. It lets us show up for kids and families when traditional funding runs out. And it lets us prove new ideas before anyone else will fund them—ideas like In-Depth Profiles® and improved technology that facilitates connection between parents, caseworkers, and youth.

Being alongside young people isn’t just a name for us. It’s what your gift makes possible.