(Atlanta, GA) There are moments when statistics stop being numbers and start feeling personal. For Christie Simons, those moments changed everything.
“Every time I heard a statistic—like 20% of youth aging out of foster care becoming immediately homeless, or that 75% of the prison population has spent time in foster care—I thought, that could have been my daughter,” Simons says.
That realization became the spark behind Atlanta’s Angels, an organization built on one powerful, faith-rooted idea: no child should ever feel alone.
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Christie and her husband adopted their daughter through Georgia’s foster care system after a three-year journey that opened their eyes to the immense challenges foster families face. What they encountered wasn’t just a lack of resources—it was a lack of consistent support and relational stability.
“Walking through the system firsthand, we saw how overwhelming it could be,” Simons explains. “And after the adoption was finalized, we kept learning more about the long-term outcomes for kids in care. It became impossible to ignore the call to do something bigger.”
That call aligned deeply with her faith. “Scripture is clear about caring for the most vulnerable among us,” she says. “This work is absolutely an extension of that calling.”
Atlanta’s Angels exists to bring consistency where instability has too often defined the foster care experience. Research shows that children in foster care may experience a dozen or more placements, with every move creating new trauma and setting them back academically and developmentally.
“What we provide is relationship,” Simons says. “At the center of everything we do is the belief that every child deserves a healthy adult who knows the color of their eyes and the passions of their heart.”
That belief comes to life through two core programs.
Love Box wraps holistic support around foster families by matching them with committed volunteers—individuals, couples, or families—who walk alongside them for at least a year. The support is intentionally personal: babysitting, tutoring, emotional encouragement, fun outings, or simply being present during hard seasons.
“It’s really just doing life together,” Simons says.
Dare to Dream focuses on youth at risk of aging out of foster care, pairing them with mentors who commit to showing up twice a month for a year. Together, they navigate key milestones like graduating high school, opening a first bank account, or getting a job—steps that can feel daunting without guidance.
Behind every match is a layer of structure and care. Program coordinators provide ongoing training, monthly check-ins, and encouragement to ensure both volunteers and families are supported.
Today, Atlanta’s Angels serves more than 100 families, with nearly 90 active matches across both programs.
One Dare to Dream story still stands out to Simons. A young man, initially connected through tutoring, formed a deeper bond with his tutor—who eventually became his mentor. That relationship helped him become the first person in his biological family to graduate high school.
What made the moment even sweeter? He celebrated his graduation the same year his mentor graduated from college.
“That impact didn’t stop with him,” Simons says. “It showed his siblings what’s possible. That’s generational change.”
The transformation worked both ways. The mentor later shared that out of all his clinical hours and training while applying to medical school, his most meaningful experience was that mentoring relationship.
The work is not easy. Foster care is filled with trauma, heartbreak, and complex stories. But Simons says the hope far outweighs the heaviness.
Encouragement often comes through small but sacred moments—like community events where children sprint through movie theater doors, spot their volunteer, and run into their arms shouting their name.
“At the holidays, we filled 347 wish lists and hosted families at movie theaters,” Simons recalls. “Watching kids light up because they know someone showed up just for them—it never gets old.”
Atlanta’s Angels also invests deeply in their volunteers, offering ongoing training, emotional support, handwritten cards, and simple reminders that they’re not alone in the work.
In Georgia alone, thousands of children are in foster care, and a shortage of foster homes means many are placed far from their home counties, schools, churches, and siblings.
Simons is quick to say fostering isn’t for everyone—but involvement is.
“Not everyone is called to foster or adopt, but everyone can do something,” she says. “You can support a foster family. You can mentor a youth.”
That support matters more than many realize. Nationally, about 50% of foster homes close within the first year due to lack of support. In Atlanta’s Angels’ Love Box program, the foster parent retention rate over five years is an astonishing 98%.
“That means community works,” Simons says. “And it changes the system.”
With more than 3,000 children currently in foster care across Metro Atlanta, Atlanta’s Angels is dreaming big. Over the next three years, the organization hopes to double the number of children and families it serves.
“Our North Star is to change the statistics,” Simons says. “As we grow, I truly believe we’ll see different outcomes—because trauma can be healed through healthy relationships and consistent presence.”
For Simons, it all comes back to love that doesn’t fade, flake, or walk away.
“We want every child to know they are seen, known, and deeply loved.”
