Barrington resident Susan McConnell worked on a project for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services for more than 10 years, recruiting foster families to adopt children.
“I saw that there was a huge gap between the kids who needed a family and families who wanted to adopt,” she recalled. “They just didn’t know about each other.”
McConnell, who has four children – three of whom are adopted – decided that, because her last child was heading to college, it was a good time for her to help address the gap she observed by starting a nonprofit. She founded Let it Be Us, a privately funded organization that helps children in foster care and those who are awaiting adoption.
One inspiration for her was a question she got from a 14-year-old boy who was living at a group home. McConnell said he asked her, “Do you think you could get me in a family so I can stay in one school so I could play football?”
