Every May, the nation pauses to recognize the children in foster care — and the families who show up for them every day.

This year, we're asking you to go further than awareness.

THE PROBLEM

Foster parents are the most consistent adults in many children's lives. They notice the nightmares. They track the medications. They know what makes a child feel safe. They are the daily observer, the advocate, the steady presence — the bridge between the child and the rest of the system.

And yet most of what they know never makes it into the official records that guide life-changing decisions about a child's future.

Information about children in foster care rarely moves cleanly from one person to the next. Caseworkers change. Providers rotate. Court proceedings require summaries. Details are retold again and again. Like a game of telephone, the story shifts — and when the story shifts, decisions shift with it.

THE SOLUTION

FosterUnity, Inc. is building FosterConnect — a documentation and coordination platform designed specifically for foster families and the agencies that support them.
FosterConnect gives foster parents a structured, simple way to record daily care activities, flag concerns, and share observations with their child's case team in real time.

For agencies: better information at the right moments.
For foster families: finally having a voice in the process.
For children: a complete story that travels with them.

OUR STORY

FosterUnity, Inc. was founded by Melissa Bauer — a foster parent, technology leader, and systems builder with more than 25 years of experience in K-12 education, healthcare, nonprofit operations, and public sector environments.

Melissa didn't start FosterUnity because she read a report. She started it because she lived the gap firsthand. What began as Word documents filled with daily observations — because no better tool existed — grew into a conviction: it shouldn't be this hard.

Foster parents are not peripheral to the child welfare system. They are central to it. When their voice is organized, factual, and supported by good tools, better decisions follow.

WHERE WE ARE

FosterUnity, Inc. is a nonprofit in formation, based in Ohio. FosterConnect is in active development. We are working directly with foster care community to build this right.

YOUR DONATION FUNDS:

→ Continued development of the FosterConnect platform

→ User research and testing with real foster families

→ Infrastructure and operational costs to keep building

→ Our path toward official launch

This Foster Care Awareness Month, don't just raise awareness. Help us build the solution.

Every child deserves to be known. Help us make that possible.

May FosterCare Awareness Month/Kick Off