An Inside Look at how ConnectionPlus Empowers Foster and Adoptive Families

For families caring for children impacted by trauma, finding the right support can make all the difference between crisis and stability. ConnectionPlus, a nationwide, nonprofit organization, founded a decade ago to provide specialized parent coaching, training and resources specifically designed for foster parents, adoptive parents, kinship caregivers and reunifying biological families. Originally starting as a fundraising initiative to support adoptions, the organization evolved after founders noticed that many families felt ill-equipped to handle trauma-related behaviors at home. Rebranding as ConnectionPlus a year ago, the organization solidified its mission to use parent coaching to build connection, attachment and long-term placement stability. So far this year they have served nearly 80 families across the country.

“We use parent coaching to equip parents who are parenting children from trauma and have been impacted by child welfare with the tools to build connection and attachment with their children and really equip them with an understanding of their role in creating stabilization and healing for the children in their home,” said Angela Roberson, Managing Director of Programs and Operations.

What sets ConnectionPlus apart is its virtual model, which allows coaches to serve families nationwide, including in rural and under-resourced areas. Operating entirely through telehealth, virtual coaching offers immense convenience for busy households juggling multiple appointments, and it enables dual-parent families to participate together without work commute barriers. The core of their work centers on one-on-one parent coaching, where families meet weekly with a dedicated parent coach for an hour over Zoom. Together, they develop a customized service plan structured across three flexible tiers (ranging from ~10 weeks to 16 weeks) which equips caregivers with practical, trauma-informed tools.

“One of the things that is unique about our model is that we use clinical assessment, so every family that starts our parent coaching model completes self-administered assessments. We’re looking at their stress levels in regards to parenting these children from trauma and for the children and youth, we’re looking at how trauma is showing up around as maladaptive behaviors across 13 different domains. What we find is that when we can equip parents and their toolbox expands and their stress levels decrease, we can also impact the children’s behaviors and the way that they are experiencing trauma,” said Angela who explained that caregivers frequently see scores shift from clinically significant distress down into normal ranges by the conclusion of services.

Rather than focusing solely on managing a child’s external behaviors, ConnectionPlus uses a family systems approach rooted in Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI). This approach encourages caregivers to look beneath the surface to understand the meaning behind a child’s behavior, helping parents regulate their own emotions so they can respond with compassion rather than frustration. In addition to scheduled weekly sessions, families benefit from on demand “dosing” support, which allows them to reach out to their parent coaches during critical moments of crisis—whether navigating a meltdown in public or managing intense daily stressors. Following the completion of coaching tiers, families transition into ongoing monthly aftercare support groups to stay connected and maintain long-term stability.

“We come alongside and help the families roleplay some resources and or some skills that we’ve been working on in parent coaching and then encourage them to go back in. At the start of services we see a higher utilization of that dosing support. As the family’ s toolbox starts to expand and their knowledge increases they rely less on that,” said Angela. “One of our parent coaches had a family call them from the trampoline park and said, ‘Johnny’ was jumping and getting very disregulated. And now he’s refusing to leave …we want to go home and what do we do? And so the parent coach is able to talk things through with them to say let’s get down on his level and gave them lots of ideas and was able to successfully get that child out of the trampoline park,” shared Bethany Hall, Managing Director of Training and Content on how ‘dosing’ has been applied in a real life situation. 

Beyond direct coaching, ConnectionPlus offers comprehensive on-demand and live virtual training covering complex topics like trauma and adolescence, lying, confabulation and problematic sexualized behavior. They also provide specialized preparatory programs such as Foster Ready and Adoption Ready to help families prepare before placement even occurs. By partnering with referring agencies, state systems and donors, ConnectionPlus works tirelessly to ensure that funding is never a barrier for families seeking support. Through compassionate guidance and practical tools, ConnectionPlus continues to regulate the regulators, serving as a steady anchor for caregivers on their journey toward healing and permanency. 

“We have a unique model in that it’s aimed specifically at helping caregivers understand their own emotions, regulate their own emotions, and then therefore be able to engage behaviors differently,” explained Bethany on how they “regulate the regulators.”

To learn more, access free downloadable tools, explore training courses or refer a family for  parent coaching, visit ConnectionPlus.