A CMomA community member recently alerted us to a wonderful online resource, and we wanted to share it with you!
Camellia Network has created a wonderful online tool that connects youths aging out of foster care with supportive adults (both individuals and organizations). This is a brilliant program for those who may not otherwise have the time or qualifications for foster parenting or other mentoring commitments. All you need is a computer!
First, you set up a Supporter profile, which takes about 5-10 minutes. Once you’ve done that, you can visit the profiles of young people who’ve recently aged out of foster care and are looking for help to attain their goals. Sometimes it’s as simple as asking how school is going, or maybe it’s suggesting some strategies for finding a job. You can also donate toward an item for their school, work, apartment, etc. if you choose.
Click here to learn more about being a Supporter, or to sign up!
Click here to learn more about how your company or organization can connect with, provide support for, and offer opportunities to these often-forgotten, but hugely promising young people.
And click here if your organization already serves foster youth, and you’d like to coordinate your efforts and aims with theirs.
This is an email-only program. No travel or visits are involved.
Joslyn
Thank you so much for writing this wonderful piece. At Camellia Network we would love to have members of CMC connect with the young people in our Network who need supportive adults on their journey to adulthood. I would love to talk more and answer any questions. We can be reached at info@camellianetwork.org.
Isis Keigwin
To Everyone at CMomA,
Thank you for sharing Camellia Network with your wonderful community! CMomA has such a beautiful mission, and we would love to support your work in whatever way we can. We welcome and invite your members to connect and make a difference in the lives of youth aging out of Foster Care; youth who so desperately need support, advice and encouragement as they make their way to independent adulthood. As I’m sure you’ll find, these young adults are amazing and inspiring. They are interesting and creative, resilient, focused, uncertain, ambitious, and just about every adjective you might use to describe young adults in you may know if your lives. The difference is, many of them don’t have the kind of guiding support system and encouragement every young person at this stage in life needs. Thank you again for sharing our work and please do not hesitate to reach out to me personally or anyone on our team if any of you have questions.
Isis
CEO and Cofounder, Camellia Network
Penina
I’m so grateful for your replies, Isis and Joslyn!
We love what you’re doing. Currently, we do a lot of our outreach on Facebook, where we share posts from organizations like yours to our community. I’ll also be adding a link to your site from our Resources page. Mentions to your community about us are welcome, whenever appropriate!
When I get a little more time, I’ll get in touch directly to see if there are other ways we can support each other’s work.