South Dakota Kids Belong

Directions Website Contact the organization

South Dakota Kids Belong Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from South Dakota Kids Belong, Nonprofit Organization, PO Box 285, Spearfish, SD.

South Dakota Kids Belong is a nonprofit funded by donors, community sponsors, and grants -working to improve experiences and outcomes for children and families involved in foster care throughout South Dakota.

Today is National Make a Difference Day, and there’s more than one way to make a difference for children and families im...
10/24/2026

Today is National Make a Difference Day, and there’s more than one way to make a difference for children and families impacted by foster care. 💙

Not everyone is called to foster, but everyone has something to offer.
Bring a meal. Offer a ride. Encourage a foster parent. Join a WRAP team. Become Foster Friendly. Give. Pray. Learn more. Simply show up.

These actions may feel small, but when a community chooses to come alongside foster, adoptive, and kinship families, they don’t have to carry the weight alone.
One community. Many different roles. All working together to create belonging.
What could your role look like?

October is Pastor Appreciation Month, and we are grateful for the pastors and faith leaders who are helping create commu...
10/23/2026

October is Pastor Appreciation Month, and we are grateful for the pastors and faith leaders who are helping create communities where foster, adoptive, and kinship families feel seen and supported. 💙

Faith communities have a unique opportunity to surround families in practical, lasting ways.

Becoming Foster Friendly can look like equipping staff and volunteers to better understand trauma, creating ministries such as WRAP teams or foster family support groups, and helping your congregation understand the needs of children and families while giving them tangible ways to respond.

To the pastors and faith leaders already creating space for children and families impacted by foster care: thank you for leading your communities to care.

Learn more about becoming a Foster Friendly Faith Community:https://americaskidsbelong.org/foster-friendly-communities/foster-friendly-faith/

10/21/2026

Meet Mary!

Mary is a sweet and kind 16-year-old. Mary loves playing basketball and outdoor activities. She also enjoys art. Mary does well with positive reinforcement and is very independent.

Mary would like to learn to make ribbon skirts and practice how to cook. Mary enjoys being involved with the Ateyapi mentoring program where she goes to cultural events, gets help with homework and goes on special outings.

Mary would like a calm family that gets along with each other. She would like the support and unconditional love of a family that will help her grow and mature into adulthood.

Mary would like a home where she is the only child or where there are no children younger than herself. Mary has six siblings. Five of those siblings have been adopted and live in South Dakota. Mary would like continued contact with her siblings.

https://americaskidsbelong.org/project/mary/

We're grateful to have our Executive Director, Doris Cardwell, serving as a member of the South Dakota Steering Team Com...
10/21/2026

We're grateful to have our Executive Director, Doris Cardwell, serving as a member of the South Dakota Steering Team Committee, representing South Dakota Kids Belong and the communities we serve. Through her involvement, Doris helps bring family voices into important conversations about permanency and the support children and families need.

Permanency means more than placement. It means helping children and families build secure attachments, maintain healthy connections, and navigate challenges over time with understanding and compassion.

Permanency thrives when systems and professionals work together to strengthen families through every stage.

Explore how permanency competent mental health services can transform the lives of children and families on the National Center website: hhttps://bridges4mentalhealth.org

Belonging isn’t always built in the big moments. 💙More often, it’s built around the dinner table. On the ride to school....
10/19/2026

Belonging isn’t always built in the big moments. 💙

More often, it’s built around the dinner table. On the ride to school. During homework. Through laughter, bedtime routines, and simply showing up again and again.

For children and families impacted by foster care, these ordinary moments can carry extraordinary meaning. They create consistency, connection, and the reminder that you are seen, you are supported, and you belong.

Creating belonging doesn’t always require doing something big. Sometimes, it simply means showing up and staying.

A child’s behavior tells us something. Sometimes, understanding the why behind the behavior can completely change how we...
10/17/2026

A child’s behavior tells us something. Sometimes, understanding the why behind the behavior can completely change how we respond. 💙

Trust-Based Relational Intervention®, or TBRI®, is an attachment-based, trauma-informed model developed to meet the complex needs of children who have experienced adversity.

This is especially important when supporting children in foster care. Every child in care has experienced separation and loss, and many have experienced other forms of trauma that can affect trust, attachment, emotional regulation, and their sense of safety.

TBRI® equips adults to look beyond a behavior and consider what a child may be communicating or needing in that moment. It emphasizes connection, felt safety, and helping children develop the skills they need to navigate their emotions and relationships.

And this knowledge isn’t only valuable for foster parents.
Teachers. Coaches. Church leaders. Extended family. Mentors. WRAP volunteers. Community members.

The more trauma-informed our communities become, the better equipped we are to create spaces where children in care can feel safe, connected, and supported.

Free One-Hour Training: https://americaskidsbelong.org/lp/foster-friendly-trauma-training-lp/

10/17/2026

Our Executive Director, Doris Cardwell, shares the heart behind why this work matters. 💙

We can’t change what has already happened in a child’s story, but we can help shape what happens next.

We can choose to show up. To create moments of joy, safety, connection, and belonging. To remind kids that their story is still being written and there is so much good still ahead.

We can be part of that good.

We can be part of what happens next. 💙

10/15/2026

Meet Nevaeh 💛

Nevaeh is 16 years old and in ninth grade. She has an outgoing personality, loves being around people, and is always ready for a good conversation! Building relationships and connecting with others come naturally to her.

Nevaeh deserves a loving, patient family who will embrace her individuality, celebrate what makes her unique, and give her a place to belong. Could you be the family she’s waiting for?

Learn more about Nevaeh at this link: https://americaskidsbelong.org/lp/meet-the-kids-inquiry-sd/

WRAP is built on the belief that foster families were never meant to do this alone. 💙WRAP teams surround foster, adoptiv...
10/15/2026

WRAP is built on the belief that foster families were never meant to do this alone. 💙

WRAP teams surround foster, adoptive, and kinship families with consistent, practical support through:

Words of Encouragement
Respite
Acts of Service
Prayer & Peer Support

For one WRAP volunteer, that meant recognizing that while fostering wasn’t something they could provide in their own home, they could use the gifts they have been given to serve a family who was.

That’s the heart of WRAP. You don’t have to do everything. You simply show up with what you can offer, whether that’s a meal, an encouraging text, mowing the lawn, helping around the house, driving kids to appointments or prayer.

When a team wraps around a family, they remind them: you don’t have to do this alone.

10/14/2026

Meet Samuel!

Samuel who goes by“Sammy” is a loving and kind 8 year-old boy who loves to build things! He loves transformers and is a wiz at building Legos.

He can follow a book to build just about anything. Sammy likes super heroes, and his favorite is Batman. He likes a variety of food, but does not like jelly! Sammy also loves animals and would like to have pets.

He is growing in his verbal communication, but has relied on his brother to speak for him for many years. It is important for Sammy to maintain a relationship with his grandparents and biological siblings.

https://americaskidsbelong.org/project/samuel/

Address

PO Box 285
Spearfish, SD
57783

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when South Dakota Kids Belong posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to South Dakota Kids Belong:

Shortcuts

Share

Category