Alia

Keeping families safely together

The best system to care for children already exists: their families. At Alia, we believe children thriving within their families and communities is not only possible, but essential. If you care about children, you must care about their parents too--children and their families belong safely together.

Who Are We?
We are a Minnesota-based, national nonprofit working to transform child welfare systems so all children can live safely with their families. Our mission is to equip and transform systems to create conditions for children and families to thrive. Our vision is a world where all children are thriving within their families and communities. We partner with child welfare systems in communities nationwide to help address each community’s unique challenges by partnering with child welfare leadership and preparing teams to meaningfully engage with communities in co-design. Centered in anti-racism, together we reimagine new ways of work and build a community’s distinctly innovative “UnSystem.”

Alia’s Values: 
Fearless Innovation | Audacious Optimism | Courageous Partnerships | A Sense of Urgency | Relentless Pursuit of Evidence

Our Founder and Team Alia 
Dr. Amelia Franck Meyer is the founder and Executive Officer at Alia. Amelia and Team Alia believe that “Families are the solution” (not the problem). In 2018, People Magazine named Amelia one of 25 Women Changing the World. In 2016, Amelia gave a TEDxMinneapolis talk on the Human Need for Belonging:

Our Case for Change
In the United States, over 600,000 children are separated from their families each year. More than 80% of cases are driven by poverty, racial and other biases, mental health, and substance use; all preventable factors. 53% of all black children and 35% of all children are investigated by CPS in the U.S per year; black children are investigated nearly 2x as much as white children. In addition to the traumatic impact on each of these children, the cost to society is staggering. Care by unknown, unrelated people has a social cost per child per year of $155,000, nearly 3x more expensive than keeping a family together.

How You Can Make a Difference 
Today, we hope you will #DoWhatLoveWouldDo and join with us in building the new way of supporting children and families. Together, we will build a way forward that prioritizes multi-generational approaches to wellbeing, building on the strengths and wisdom of children and families, and strengthening communities. Your gift today will help us to inspire and equip child welfare leaders and communities to work in authentic, co-design partnerships to transform their work and keep families safely together.

*We will be launching our first ever impact report in early 2025; subscribe to our emails for early access once it's live!