Ampersand Families

It's Give to the Max Day! On Minnesota's biggest giving holiday, we ask you to consider a gift to Ampersand Families. At Ampersand Families, we're working upstream and downstream to get kids out of foster care and into safe, loving, permanent families. More than 11,000 kids experience out-of-home placement each year in Minnesota. Most will be able to return home when their parents get the help they need. But some kids will linger in foster care for years. Some will age out of foster care with no legal family or permanent support system. Many of these precious young people will end up unsheltered, incarcerated, experience poverty and poor mental health, and face many other challenges. Ampersand Families was formed to keep kids from aging out of foster care and entering adulthood alone and unsupported. Over the years, our work has expanded to embrace more preventive, upstream work - keeping kids connected to relatives and kin as soon as they enter the child welfare system, which research shows leads to better outcomes for kids in care. Our vision is that every young person whose life has been impacted by trauma and subsequent child welfare intervention will be restored to a safe, permanent family - with an urgency that honors the brevity of childhood. It takes resources to do this work. With your support, we can help more kids impacted by the child welfare system maintain or rebuild connections to family, stability, and permanency. Thank you for considering a gift! https://lnkd.in/g8c9amum

We're hiring! We seek a passionate, energetic Youth-Focused Permanency Specialist to join our awesome team. Youth-Permanency Specialists provide child-specific recruitment, adoption preparation, and support services for Minnesota foster youth, primarily ages 10-18. Initial review of resumes will begin Oct. 25. View the job description and how to apply here: https://lnkd.in/g5jxzZ_b

QPI is a national movement to implement system change within foster care. Ampersand Families recently became a fully trained QPI site! This will ensure that quality parenting and lasting relationships are practiced within every part of our agency. Learn more by reading our latest blog post: https://lnkd.in/gV3fiwwa

Check out this great-looking team from Pharos Employee Benefits at our Bridge to Belonging Gala last month! Pharos has been providing Ampersand Families with excellent employee benefit services for many years. As a Platinum Sponsor of the Gala, they helped make it a success. Thank you Pharos!

Join our team! Ampersand Families is currently hiring for three positions: Leadership Administrative Specialist, Program Administrative Specialist, and Relative and Kin-Focused Permanency Specialist. Learn more and apply here: https://lnkd.in/gxx2M3Wi

What an honor and privilege to be invited by Kipsu to talk about our work to help kids in foster care find family. Great questions from an attentive crowd with kind and generous hearts. So much gratitude for this opportunity.

Join Ampersand Families for an inclusive evening of fun, music, connection and inspiration as we gather the village of caring individuals supporting youth and families navigating the child welfare system. Enjoy live music, a great silent auction, dinner by K's Revolutionary Catering, and a program featuring motivational speaker and former foster youth Gaelin Elmore. Chris Iverson and Yolanda Taylor, both of whom adopted youth from foster care, will share their stories; we'll hear from our dynamic co-founder Michelle Chalmers too! Whether you're an old friend of Ampersand Families or a friend we haven't met yet, all are welcome at our Bridge to Belonging Gala on May 2 at The Essence Event Center in St. Paul. Details and tickets here: https://lnkd.in/gu8Fasda