The Power of Connection

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As we begin the holidays and season of celebrations, we will revisit the traditional appeals for hope, peace, love, and forgiveness. These virtues are centuries old and at their very core, are all rooted in connection.

“Deep human connection is … the purpose and the result of a meaningful life – and it will inspire the most amazing acts of love, generosity, and humanity.” Melinda Gates

Human connection is essential, it is hard-wired and fosters all human development. From the moment we are born, we yearn to connect. We cry out for it from caregivers; otherwise, we cannot experience tranquility, comfort or attachment and trust. Emotional, social, physical, and spiritual connection produces what is sacrificial and is the most explicit form of love. We need to be seen. We need to be touched. This is common humanity.

Researchers have long recognized the impact of the deprivation of touch on children raised in impoverished institutions throughout the world. The costs are widespread and continue today. We have documented a litany of tragic and chronic problems for children and youth who are disconnected and neglected: lack of impulse control, social withdrawal, behavioral dysregulation, inability to tolerate frustration, anger and aggressiveness, low self-esteem, low academic achievement, and self-harm, for examples. At The National Center for Children and Families (NCCF), we daily witness individuals and organizations like you who step forward to prevent this acute suffering by others and who promote healing and recovery from betrayal and maltreatment, through the formidable power of human connection.

This year NCCF touched the lives of more than 51,000 people and told as many stories as we could about how the community’s humane response, your sense of responsibility to others who are hurting, mattered. Because of common humanity, a foster youth bouncing around from home to home, found her “forever” mother, a best friend, and started college; a single parent now raises his four children in an affordable and safe home, after the mother walked away; a youth reconnected with his father after many years, and has started his journey as a culinary professional; the mother of an extremely ill baby escaped a violent, abusive relationship, finding protection in this country; and a gifted child left to her elderly grandmother to raise, graduated from elementary school as an artist and scholar, and plans to become a teacher.

Truly, we are not any different than the babies orphaned at birth. We too need to be acknowledged. Embraced. Nurtured. This the true human condition. This is the power of connection! When you hear the invaluable difference you can make to another, to propel them to grow and thrive, you know the true value of your support. We at NCCF want you to know that your time and your donation are precious, and powerful!

Please give. Please connect. Thanking You and Wishing You the Warmest Season’s Greetings!

I am because we are…. Nguni Bantu

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Author

Name: Dr. Sheryl Brissett Chapman

About: Dr. Sheryl Brissett Chapman, Executive Director, is a passionate, internationally recognized and award-winning advocate for children, youth, and their families, who struggle with extreme poverty, abuse and neglect, domestic violence, and disabilities and related trauma. An author and expert in child and family welfare, she believes in the sheer power of “community” as it reinforces unimaginable resilience when it provides the basic support to those in its midst who have need. Dr. Chapman envisions a healthy, happy childhood for each and every child, regardless of the circumstances of their birth or the socio-economic status of their family.

ABOUT US

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Founded in 1915 as an orphanage in the District of Columbia, NCCF is a private, nonprofit child and family welfare agency with a commitment to serving poor, disadvantaged, abused, neglected and/or abandoned children, youth, and their families.

Current program services include emergency shelters and transitional housing for homeless families, a high-intensity therapeutic group home, therapeutic and traditional foster care and adoption, independent living for youth transitioning to adulthood, teen parent services, and community-based prevention services that promote academic achievement, parental involvement, economic and vocational stability, and healthy families. Our programs have become social service models, redefining both NCCF’s reputation and the agency’s position in the human service continuum in the Washington Metropolitan Region.

blog-sidebar-aboutUs-logo

Founded in 1915 as an orphanage in the District of Columbia, NCCF is a private, nonprofit child and family welfare agency with a commitment to serving poor, disadvantaged, abused, neglected and/or abandoned children, youth, and their families.

Current program services include emergency shelters and transitional housing for homeless families, a high-intensity therapeutic group home, therapeutic and traditional foster care and adoption, independent living for youth transitioning to adulthood, teen parent services, and community-based prevention services that promote academic achievement, parental involvement, economic and vocational stability, and healthy families. Our programs have become social service models, redefining both NCCF’s reputation and the agency’s position in the human service continuum in the Washington Metropolitan Region.

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NCCF's Back to School Drive 2022