iCARE4 Adoptive And Foster Families
Who We Are
iCARE4 Adoptive And Foster Families is a resiliency-oriented, hope-focused nonprofit advancing equity for children in adoptive, foster, kinship, and transitioning families. Working at the intersection of education and mental health, iCARE is transforming how schools support students impacted by disrupted attachment, trauma, and family separation—ensuring that healing, permanency, and belonging are prioritized across systems.
Founded in 2024, iCARE was created to fill a critical gap: schools were often unprepared to meet the complex emotional and relational needs of children navigating foster care, adoption, or kinship care. In response, iCARE developed the iCARE4 Schools Connection Kits™, an innovative, bilingual resource grounded in best-practice frameworks including:
- Perry’s Neurosequential Model
- Hope Theory
- Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI®)
- School-Based Adoption Competency Training (C.A.S.E.)
- Perry’s Neurosequential Model
These kits—already in use in over 1,000 Illinois schools—equip educators with practical tools to create regulation-ready, trauma-aware, and inclusive classrooms.
Through its professional development series, Connected, We Thrive™, iCARE trains educators, school social workers, and administrators on how to implement family-centered, healing-informed strategies that integrate with Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). The organization’s workshops and resources help bridge the gap between home and school, foster trust, and create emotionally safe learning environments for all students—especially those navigating family transitions like foster care, adoption, immigration, divorce, or loss.
iCARE collaborates with school leaders, policymakers, and national organizations—including DCFS, IAAC, IPA, IASB, ISBE, NTI/C.A.S.E., ICOY, FREDLA, NCFA, and Let It Be Us—to shape trainings, policy recommendations, and strategic initiatives that center emotional well-being and belonging in education.
Whether through Connection Kits™, customized workshops, or legislative roundtables, iCARE is building a future where every child feels safe, seen, and supported—at school and beyond.
iCARE4 Adopted And Foster Families empowers schools, families, policymakers with education and resources to help them recognize that children from adoptive, foster, and kinship families have unique needs and require a different kind of support–one that’s holistic, collaborative, and grounded in a family-systems approach.
iCARE4 Adopted And Foster Families empowers schools, families, policymakers with education and resources to help them recognize that children from adoptive, foster, and kinship families have unique needs and require a different kind of support–one that’s holistic, collaborative, and grounded in a family-systems approach.
OUR MISSION
OUR MISSION is to educate, equip and empower all those who raise, teach or support adoptive, foster and kinship families.
OUR VISION
OUR VISION is for thriving children and families, connected and supported by compassionate, knowledgeable schools, professionals, and policymakers.
OUR PURPOSE
OUR PURPOSE is to serve as an expert, resiliency-oriented, hope-focused resource that fosters connection among families, caregivers, educators, and support professionals navigating adoption, foster, and kinship care.
OUR BELIEFS
OUR BELIEFS are hope, resiliency and connection so kids can soar.
Adoption brings incredible joy. But it also carries layers—of loss, identity struggles, and invisible grief that take a lifetime of healing, even in the most loving homes. Our children missed the first nine months of bonding with us— matching heartbeats, breath, and rhythms—and may have endured neglect, multiple placements, or abuse often unknown or imaginable.
Those early losses reshape how they see themselves, whom they trust, and how much hope they carry. It means for them, belonging doesn’t come naturally. Relational trauma isn’t as visible as hunger or homelessness. But it’s just as real—just as damaging and often more pervasive.
I founded iCARE4 Adoptive And Foster Families along with dedicated and passionate clinicians, educators, and parents who know this work firsthand. We saw too many children falling through the cracks of systems that weren’t designed for their unique histories:
- Schools were trying their best, but lacked the tools and knowledge.
- Families were doing everything they could, but felt isolated and blamed.
- Mental health providers were unprepared for the complexities that adoption, foster, and kinship care can bring.
- And the struggle and heartbreak these children carried didn’t end in childhood—it followed them into their own families, careers, and communities
iCARE4 Adoptive And Foster Families was founded by parents, educators, and professionals united by love, compassion, and inclusion.
Learn more about the dynamic individuals who come together to make up the iCARE team.
