Helping children removed from their birth families find emotional healing and forever homes.

Connecting Kids is the Family & Children’s Service program that helps children who have been removed from their birth families “re-connect” and form secure loving relationships so that they can find permanent homes. We serve children and youth of all ages. Most are in state custody. Some have experienced more physical and emotional pain in their short lives than most of us will ever face. Many have also experienced multiple placements and periods of residential treatment. The world, for them, is not a safe place. But they are just kids, and, like all kids, they need adults to make the world safe again for them.

For many of these children the mutual attachment and nurturing relationships that normally develop with parents or other caregivers have been severely damaged by parental incapacity, abuse and neglect or out of home placements. Because of this they develop attachment disorders and have difficulty trusting adults. Sometimes their hurt and mistrust is acted out in concerning behaviors that can be mild or severe.

Connecting Kids collaborates with the Department of Children’s Service and other community agencies to provide intensive therapeutic and support services for these children and their foster and birth families. Our belief is that children who have suffered repeated or chronic experiences of abuse, neglect, or loss of caregivers – and bear the scars of those experiences in their emotional and behavioral patterns, can begin to trust and heal through the coordinated efforts of a committed and loving family, a skilled therapeutic service team and the support of other families and community professionals.

Teens In Action Program
Family & Children’s Service provides group experiences and individual support services to student’s who have been witness to, or a victim of domestic violence and trauma. The groups focus on educating youth on safety tips, healthy relationships, communication skills, coping skills, anger management, and family systems to increase the likelihood that they will be equipped to manage the long-term effects of their victimization. Youth may also be seen individually if needed. Teens in Action are currently at Pearl Cohn 9th Grade Academy, Pearl Cohn High School, Antioch Middle School and Apollo Middle School.

Williamson County Children in Divorce/Children in Bereavement Groups
Family & Children’s Service provides the Children in Divorce/Children in Bereavement (CID/CIB) groups in the Williamson County School system. The CID/CIB groups are specific to elementary and middle school age children. The groups are led by an experienced facilitator who is also available to provide information and support to the parents of the children participating in the groups.

Wendy’s Wonderful Kids
Family & Children’s Service hosts Wendy’s Wonderful Kids which is a signature program of the Dave Thomas Foundation. Wendy’s Wonderful Kids is a program that recruits resource parents for children in need of a “forever family”. Most of the youth in the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program have experienced a lifetime of placement moves as well as a variety of trauma. The recruiter plays an important role assisting in the achievement of permanency in that youth’s life.

Contact Information:
For information contact Jan Dick, Program Director at 615-340-9738.


Connecting Kids Referral Form