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ConnectMe: An Evaluation of a Technology-Enabled, Human-Guided Kinship Navigator Program in California

Award Number: 90CF0061
ORGANIZATION: CHILDREN'S BUREAU
OPDIV: ACF
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: DEMONSTRATION
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/30/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 09/29/2029

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ConnectMe: An Evaluation of a Technology-Enabled, Human-Guided Kinship Navigator Program in California - Think of Us (TOU) requests funding to rigorously evaluate ConnectMe, a kinship navigator program that helps grandparents, relatives, and other kin caregivers who have taken in children from the child welfare system get connected to the support they need. Kinship care is one of the most effective ways to keep children safe and connected to family, but the caregivers who provide it often do so with little help. In a 2024 survey that TOU conducted with nearly 700 kin caregivers, one in three said their finances had worsened after taking in a child, and fewer than half knew navigator programs or kin resource centers even existed. Financial assistance, child care, and housing were the needs caregivers named most often. ConnectMe meets caregivers where they are, by text, web, email, or referral, and pairs a fast digital response with a real person: a Care Navigator who builds a relationship with the family and stays involved until each need is resolved. Behind the scenes, technology tools help organize requests and match families to resources quickly, bringing initial response time down to less than two business hours, while every judgment call and decision affecting a family remains with trained human staff. TOU has operated a kinship navigation program for nearly six years, fielding and fulfilling thousands of requests from thousands of caregivers. This project brings that program to a range of partner counties and puts it through a rigorous, independent evaluation. The evaluation will compare families who receive ConnectMe support to similar families who do not, to measure whether the program improves placement stability, helping children stay safely and permanently with the relatives raising them. The goal is evidence strong enough to meet the federal Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse standard, which would let child welfare agencies across the country fund ConnectMe permanently through federal child welfare dollars and, most importantly, support the kin caregivers who so often step in when children need them most. This evaluation will close a real gap for the many states looking for a proven tech-enabled, human-centered approach.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $600,000 )
2026	2026	THINK OF US	1400 16th St NW Ste 215	Washington	DC	20036	DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA	USA	Kinship Navigators	00	1	9/24/2026	NEW	$600,000
														Subtotal = $600,000

Grand Total All Awards = $600,000

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ConnectMe: An Evaluation of a Technology-Enabled, Human-Guided Kinship Navigator Program in California

Award Number: 90CF0061

ORGANIZATION: CHILDREN'S BUREAU

OPDIV: ACF

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: DEMONSTRATION

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/30/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 09/29/2029

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