Her name could be any of theirs.

She aged out of Connecticut's foster care system on her eighteenth birthday. Not because she was ready. Because the clock ran out.

No family to call. No key to hand back to. No one required by law to answer when she knocked. She left with whatever fit in a bag and the quiet, crushing message that the system had been sending her for years, that she was a problem to be managed, not a person to be loved.

In 2025, 181 young people in Connecticut left foster care exactly like her. That number has barely changed in five years.

We built Rooted because she deserves better.

Rooted by Unashamed is a warm, safe home in Central Connecticut for young women ages 16-24 who are in or aging out of foster care. Not a shelter. Not a program. A home, where she can land, breathe, and start building a future that actually belongs to her.

At Rooted she will have a real adult in her corner. A House Mom who knows her name, her story, and her goals, and shows up every single day. She will have life skills, a savings account, a plan, and people who are not going anywhere when the program ends.

She will have what every young woman deserves. A place to become.

We know this because our founder lived it.

Sana Cotten was adopted at eight and a half. At fifteen she left her adoptive home and navigated life on her own, without a plan, without permanency, without anyone who felt like hers. She built Unashamed Inc. in 2018 because she refused to let her story, or anyone else's, end in shame.

Rooted is the home she wishes had existed.

Your donation is opening that door.

Every dollar raised goes directly toward opening Rooted's doors, the home, the staffing, the life skills programming, and the emergency respite bed that means when DCF calls at 2am with nowhere to put a thirteen-year-old girl, the answer is yes.

We are asking you to believe in her before you ever meet her.

Unashamed Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. EIN 83-2202954. All donations are tax deductible.