Our story
Our mission is to empower families caring for children involved with the child welfare system, specializing in those with special health care and developmental needs. Whether it be a child with a complex medical or developmental diagnosis, a child with maladaptive behaviors, a teenager, or a sibling group, we work hard to make it possible for parents to be successful caregivers and for their families to be sustainable.
We recognize that each child was created with as much self-evident equality as any other. A disability or complex care regimen should not be a pretext for institutionalization or health threatening cost containment policies. Through its mission, Childkind has dedicated itself to the proposition that all children with complex medical needs, developmental, or mental health needs have the right to live to their own fullest potential as part of a safe, stable, and nurturing family. We are an organization that is committed to working with vulnerable children with a focus on supporting their parents and families.
Serving children better, and building partnerships
Our beginnings …
In 1988 a group of Atlanta pediatricians and community volunteers responded to the growing spread of HIV/AIDS to children in our community. Called “boarder babies,” many of these children were being abandoned at Grady Hospital. The fear of HIV being so high, DFCS, the state child welfare agency, had no foster care placement options at their disposal. Pooling their resources, the pediatricians and volunteers created a group home for HIV+/AIDS affected children with the understanding that DFCS would, in time, recruit foster and adoptive families for these children. DFCS’s recruiting efforts were not successful and in 1992 Childkind again marshalled its resources to locate, train and license foster and adoptive families. The agency was so successful in recruiting foster families that it was able to close its temporary group home.
By 1995 Childkind had expanded its specialty foster care program and began including medically fragile children. Building upon its success, the agency expanded its foster care program to include children with developmental disabilities and, most recently, children with mental health and behavioral challenges. Since 1995 well over 1,200 children with medical, developmental, and mental health disabilities, without their own families, have gained life as part of a real household with genuine moms and dads. Unlike any other family foster care program in our state, Childkind has created a well-tested system of supports and programming staffed by social workers, nurses, and behavioral specialists.
Childkind is fully accredited by the Council on Accreditation and has a 100% rating by Charity Navigator with a 97.34% expense ratio, among the best in Georgia.
Meet childkind
Cindy DeSa
Maternal and Child Health Director
Virginia Department of Health
Fozia Khan Eskew (Secretary)
Early Intervention Coordinator
Georgia Chapter
The American Academy of Pediatrics
Dacia Green
Attorney at Law
Kandy Kent
Vice President, Global Strategic Accounts
Oracle Corp.
Misty Palmer
Business Development, Tandem Bank
Jeff Lukich (Chair)
Founder & Principal Consultant, Movere Strategies, LLC
Brittany Oxentine, MSW, LCSW
Social Worker at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Eunice Radcliff, MD, FAAP
Senior Associate, Fellow in Primary Care
Department of Pediatrics
Emory University School of Medicine
Quintina Robinson – (Vice Chair)
Product Manager at Macro Helix, LLC
Stuart Rosenthal – (Treasurer)
CPA and Partner
Rosenthal & Kaplin, PC
Andrew Barclay
Technical consultant
Fostering Court Improvements
Veda C. Johnson, M.D.
Department of Pediatrics
Emory University School of Medicine
John Parker
Attorney at Law
Jordan Greenbaum, M.D.
Medical Director, Child Protection Center
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Georgina Peacock, MD, MPH
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center on Birth Defects and
Developmental Disabilities
David Tatum
VP for Government & Community Affairs
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Melissa Carter
Executive Director
The Barton Child Law and Policy Center
Emory University School of Law
Polly McKinney
Advocacy Director of Voices for Georgia’s Children
Dee Armstead
Recruitment and Training Supervisor
Nina Branch
Chief Operating Officer
Trisha Clymore
Chief Financial Officer
Koslyn Lyles
Director of Home Based Services
Tiara Potter
Placement Services Supervisor
Kathy Reid
Nursing Supervisor
LaSonya Rudd
Director of Placement Services
Brian Russell
Chief Executive Officer
Tanita Brown
Family Services Coordinator
Serene Palmer
Home Based Services Medical Support
Rasheeda Clarke
Family Services Coordinator
Julie Cole
Family Services Coordinator
Rachel Demonbreun
Medical Support Services
Debbie Guy
Medical Support Specialist
Kierra Harper
Recruitment & Training Admin Support
John Jubilee
Developmental and Behavioral Specialist
Shanda Maiolo
Intake Specialist
Latoya Roberson
Family Services Coordinator
Chekinaa Turner
Home Based Services Family Support Services
Jasmin Woolfork
Family Services Coordinator
Fully accredited by the Council on Accreditation (COA), Childkind’s model programming has documented success at serving children with multiple health, developmental and behavioral challenges.
Childkind has a 100% rating by Charity Navigator with a 97.34% expense ratio, among the best in Georgia.
We believe children with complex medical or developmental challenges have the right to enjoy a full and decent family life and to be engaged within a supporting community.
