Five-month-old Oliver had already been placed in multiple homes. His special needs included Down Syndrome along with medical complexities that were compounded, yet manageable. His caseworker had nowhere to turn, hoping Let It Be Us could guide her to the perfect home.
Being born in Illinois is not a blessing for babies born with the destiny of foster care. There simply aren’t enough foster homes, or foster homes with the right experience, or foster homes with the goal of adoption. Oliver was destined for adoption.
At Let It Be Us we are experts in finding just the right family for each child, based on the child’s needs and the family’s strengths. Your donation makes this possible. We embrace data and tools that allow us to locate, in real time, each open foster home throughout Illinois, allowing us to provide placement options for children that otherwise would remain struggling without a family.
Through our work, Oliver was placed and welcomed into a foster family of a single mother who sees foster care and adoption as a family building alternative. She has deep experience with special needs children and within 24 hours of placement she said, “this is the sweetest baby I have ever met.”
We make this look easy, but it isn’t. It has taken years of research and tenacity to perfect our practice of foster care placement. Part of our energy is the power of our foster home recruitment. Together with partner Child Welfare Agencies, we recruit some of the most vital foster homes in Illinois. Starting with foster homes experienced with special needs, we are able to place children like Oliver in the right home, at the right time, to ensure his safety … and ensure his future.
We count on your year-end giving to continue our work for children like Oliver. Give for children who struggle with special needs, give for children who struggle with educational needs, and for all the children who struggle to find the right family to care for them. Your support fuels our innovative and collaborative work in recruitment, matching and placement services not offered by any other agency in the State of Illinois and, we believe, the nation.
When you align with Let It Be Us you align with the future of our most vulnerable children in Illinois foster care, including those awaiting adoption. This season of giving, I invite you to make a meaningful gift to improve the lives of Illinois’ most vulnerable children. Thank you for your impactful support.
With gratitude and warmest regards,
Susan A. McConnell, DSW, MBA
Founder and Executive Director
SusanMcConnell@LetItBeUs.org