CKMD Army

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From surviving foster care to serving it.

CKMD Army is building the 50-State Foster Care Resource Guide so every youth in foster care and family can find the help they deserve.

09/27/2026

Thank you to Jason Float and his team at Project Belong Maryland for inviting me to CAFO 2026 and sharing this experience with me. It was also nice to meet other organizations from our guide in person, Vince from Keystone Family Alliance as well as Mark and Dori from Created Ministries. I was able to meet many other organizations that I hope to add to our guide soon.

09/25/2026

I came to CAFO 2026 hoping to make connections, but I feel like I had found a community. As someone who spent most of my childhood in foster care, being surrounded by people committed to serving youth and families in foster care reminded me why building the CKMD Army 50-State Foster Care Resource Guide matters so much. I was once one of those kids, and now I get to use my story to help make sure others know there are people fighting for them.

09/23/2026

Headed to CAFO 2026 in Atlanta: First Time in Georgia for Foster Care Summit

08/18/2026

We keep waiting for a crisis to get catastrophic before we do anything.

By then it's too late.

A family doesn't fall apart overnight. It erodes. One missed paycheck. One medical bill that wipes out the savings. One death in the family that leaves a single parent holding everything alone with no backup.

And while all that's happening, the people around them are minding their business.

I'm not pointing fingers; I've done it too. Assumed someone else would step in. Told myself it wasn't my place. Watched a situation get worse while I waited for the "right moment" to say something.

Here's the thing nobody wants to say out loud: most of the kids who end up in foster care didn't have to. Not if one person had shown up a little earlier. Not if the family had one real connection they could call at 11pm without feeling like a burden.

Community isn't a word. It's a decision you make before somebody needs it.

You don't build a safety net after someone falls through the floor.

So I want to hear it from the people who've actually been there, who showed up for your family when life went sideways? A real person. A real moment. What did they actually do?

And if nobody came, say that too. That answer matters just as much.

08/15/2026

Quick weekend trip in the rv, eat, play, work and enjoying the sunshine.

08/10/2026

I entered foster care at three years old because of severe abuse.

Over the next 14 years, I lived in 17 foster homes, six group homes, and juvenile detention centers.

People often ask me what it was like growing up in foster care.

The truth is, every child's story is different.

Mine began with abuse, but I met countless other kids whose families were struggling with addiction, mental health challenges, poverty, or other circumstances that left them without the support they needed. Different paths... but the same outcome. We were all searching for stability, hope, and someone who wouldn't give up on us.

Looking back, I don't remember wishing for the perfect foster home.

I remember wishing someone could simply help us find the help that already existed.

Too many foster families receive a placement call with no idea where to find resources. Too many kinship caregivers are suddenly responsible for a child with little support. Too many young adults age out of foster care feeling like they're completely on their own.

That's why I started CKMD Army.

Not because I think I can fix the entire foster care system.

But because I believe we can make it easier for people to find help when they need it most.

That's why we're building the CKMD Army 50-State Foster Care Resource Guide, connecting youth in foster care, families, caregivers, and advocates with organizations already doing incredible work in their communities.

I also want people to know this:

You don't have to become a foster parent to change a child's life.

You can mentor.

You can volunteer.

You can support a foster family.

You can hire a young adult aging out of care.

You can simply choose to show up.

Sometimes, that's all it takes to change someone's future.

I'd love to hear from you.

Before you learned more about foster care, what did you think it looked like? And what changed your perspective?

08/09/2026

Most people hear "foster care" and immediately think the only way to help is to become a foster parent.

And when they find out how hard the system is, the paperwork, the trauma, the bureaucracy, they check out entirely. They figure if they can't do it all the way, they can't do anything.

That's the assumption I want to challenge today.

There are young people aging out of care right now who need a mentor, a job opportunity, a set of work clothes, a ride to an interview, or just someone who shows up consistently. None of that requires a license.

Businesses can hire intentionally. Churches can open their doors beyond Sundays. Tradespeople can teach skills. Neighbors can volunteer with local organizations already doing the work.

The broken system is real, I lived inside it for fourteen years. But the conversation can't start and stop with what's broken. That's where most people get stuck, and meanwhile the kids keep aging out with nowhere to go.

You don't have to fix the whole system. You just have to find the one thing only you can offer, and give it to somebody who needs it.

CKMD Army exists to connect people exactly like you, people who want to do something real, with organizations already on the ground in your community.

What's one skill, resource, or door you could open for a young person this year? Drop it in the comments, I'd genuinely like to know what people are thinking.

08/08/2026

I spent fourteen years moving through foster homes, group homes, and juvenile detention centers. And the one thing that never changed was this: the help existed somewhere, but nobody could find it.

Foster families getting a placement call at 10pm, scrambling for hours to find a bed, formula, diapers, because nobody handed them a map. Kids aging out with no idea what was waiting on the other side of that door.

That's why I built the 50-State Foster Care Resource Guide to fix. Not the whole system. Just the map.

Today I want to share where we are. We're now in 23 states and 46 organizations have joined the guide. Forty-six groups of people who wake up every day committed to making sure a kid doesn't fall through the cracks.

Every single one of those organizations was found the right way. Real visits. Real conversations. Real people doing real work.

To everyone who has supported this, shared it, made a call, sent a message, I don't take that lightly. You're the reason this thing is alive.

But we've got 27 states left to cover. And somewhere in those states, there's a family getting a placement call tonight with no idea where to turn.

If you know an organization serving youth in foster care, anywhere in the country, drop them in the comments or send them to ckmdarmy.com. They deserve to be found. The families and kids who need them deserve to find them fast.

We're not stopping until we hit all 50.

Life may knock me down, but it can't keep me down.

08/06/2026

I spent years thinking the foster care system had broken something in me that couldn't be fixed.

Fourteen years moving through foster homes, group homes, detention centers. Then, years later, nine bullets meant to end it all. At some point you stop asking "why me" and start asking something harder, "what do I do with all of this?"

That question changed everything.

The moment I stopped treating my past like a wound I had to hide and started treating it like a map, I could finally see where I was supposed to go. Every placement. Every loss. Every scar. It wasn't random. It was a blueprint for exactly the kind of business and community I was built to build.

That's why Four Tiers Contracting exists, to give young adults aging out of foster care a real career, not a handout. That's why CKMD Army exists, to connect those same kids with the resources most people don't even know are out there.

I didn't go looking for a mission. The mission found me in the hardest chapters of my life.

Your trauma isn't a liability. For some of us, it's the most qualified thing we bring to the table.

If you've ever wondered how your story, the painful parts especially, could become the foundation for something bigger than profit, that's exactly what we're building inside CKMD Army. The doors are open.

What's one part of your story you've been afraid to use?

08/04/2026

Thank you Laura & Laquita for alll you do to support families in need. Please support Live 2 Give Hope by following them and sharing this post.

Address

Issaquah, WA
98027

Website

https://www.ckmdarmy.com/

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