The walls disappeared behind hundreds of brightly colored Post-it notes. Every inch of space became covered with ideas—hopes, frustrations, possibilities. Some people wrote slowly, choosing every word. Others filled note after note as though years of experience had finally found a place to land. I remember looking around the room and realizing we weren't being asked to improve a system. We were being asked to redesign it.
I was intrigued by the opportunity to apply for Ten of Ten for Kids, excited to be accepted, and humbled to be chosen as one of a group of innovators—redefined as designers. Invited by Alia Innovations, we gathered with a shared purpose: to imagine a different future for child welfare. There wasn't time for small talk. The expectation was clear: move beyond identifying problems and begin designing solutions.
The conversations ranged from calm collaboration to moments of deep frustration. We agreed, disagreed, and sometimes simply agreed to keep listening. Then came the challenge: build prototypes for a better way forward. As storyboards emerged and ideas took shape, a common thread appeared. Every meaningful innovation centered on community—people, places, and relationships that help families succeed.
Among the six guiding principles introduced that week, one changed me forever: Connections—protecting trusting relationships, family ties, community, and traditions as the foundation of lifelong well-being. I left the conference energized, but more importantly, I left with a new lens through which to see my work.
For more than thirty years, Camp To Belong has reunited brothers and sisters living apart in foster care. At the time of Ten of Ten, our primary program was a single week of summer camp. During that precious week, siblings laughed, celebrated birthdays, made memories, and rediscovered one another. Then they returned to separate homes, hoping those connections would somehow continue.
That hope became the question that would shape the next decade of my work.
Ten of Ten forced me to ask a difficult question: Why were we satisfied with one week when siblings needed one another all year?
Reluctantly at first, then wholeheartedly, I shifted my thinking. The answer was not simply to expand Camp To Belong. It was to expand opportunities for connection. Member camps evolved into locally led organizations offering family camps and year-round sibling preservation programs designed to strengthen attachment to family, community, and tradition.
It got confusing and messy. Allegiances were questioned. I wrestled with what should be replicated and what should be allowed to grow independently. Then I realized something that reshaped my leadership: the mission mattered more than the brand.
I chose mission over brand, celebrating communities that embraced their own identities while expanding year-round opportunities for siblings to stay connected.
As the founder, I let go of ownership so others could take ownership in their own communities. I celebrated them as founders because the work no longer belonged to one organization. It belonged to every child longing to remain connected to a brother or sister.
The campers have always been our "why."
Thirty years after attending camp, Lakeisha wrote, "Those memories with my siblings are memories that I carry with me to this day." Kayla still treasures the pillow her brother Randy made for her and remembers holding his hand before jumping into the river during a white-water rafting trip. Those memories remind me that sibling connection is not simply an activity—it is a lifelong source of identity, belonging, and resilience.
The ripple effects extended far beyond camp. Together with partners across the country, Camp To Belong helped inspire state Siblings Bills of Rights, now enacted in more than thirty-five states. Former campers became counselors, staff members, board leaders, and advocates. Organizations collaborated to elevate sibling voices, educate child welfare professionals, and build national partnerships dedicated to preserving sibling relationships. The prototypes we imagined ten years ago became real change.
Looking back, I realize the most important thing we designed wasn't a program. It was a different way of thinking. We learned to unlearn assumptions, to come underneath families instead of standing over them, to un-separate siblings through connection, and to unite communities around what children need most. That is what I have come to think of as the "Un-System"—not the absence of structure, but the presence of relationships.
Most people have a sibling, have raised siblings, or have someone they consider family in all but name. These relationships are often the longest of our lives, shaping who we become from childhood through old age. Yet, too often, they remain an afterthought in child welfare.
Ten years later, my hope is that we continue building on those early prototypes. Policies should do more than prioritize sibling placement; they should ensure meaningful, ongoing connection through shared traditions, birthdays, family celebrations, and everyday moments. Brothers and sisters should not have to wait for camp, a court order, or chance to experience the relationships that help define who they are.
Ten years ago, I thought I was attending a conference. Looking back, I realize I was redesigning my own leadership. The work taught me that systems don't heal children—relationships do. Policies matter. Programs matter. But families, siblings, and communities are what make transformation possible. If we continue designing with those sacred connections at the center, perhaps one day every child will experience what every sibling deserves: the right to belong to one another.
That is the Power of Un.
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Lynn Price is a social entrepreneur, speaker and author who has transformed her lived experience in foster care to creating international programs to ensure relational health and future success for youth currently experiencing out-of-home placements. She is founder of Camp To Belong and project director at The Center for Relationship Education. As an Ashoka Fellow and AARP Purpose Prize Fellow, Lynn has received the President’s Service Award and Oprah Winfrey’s Angel Network Award. She is the author of Real Belonging, Give Siblings Their Right to Reunite, Vision for A Change, and Overcome Mind Over Matter.
Contact: price.lynn@comcast.net
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