Millions of children grow up without access to necessities like health care, protection, and the education opportunities needed to thrive. The experience of being in foster care can have a lasting impact on the lives of children. Child well-being is multidimensional. There is not a single factor whether a child can reach their full potential. Studies show that children who have been separated from their families are more likely to have a lower IQ with a greater chance of becoming incarcerated in the future. At the Miracle Foundation, our mission is a family for every child in our lifetime. The Miracle Foundation created the five well-being domains: education, physical & mental health, family and social relationships, home finance, and living conditions. By bringing these concepts together into one usable methodology, it ensures that every child receives the proper care. The 5 well-being domains are the foundation of Thrive Scale, created by Miracle Foundation, using a quarterly assessment guiding families and social workers. Tracking the identifying strengths and areas in need of reunification. Acting as a measuring tool, replacing guesswork with kinship-driven care to children and families.
Education
The first well-being domain is education, receiving quality education, cognitive support, and opportunities needed to grow are important for early childhood development. This domain is more than academics; it builds a child’s confidence and problem-solving skills in the future. It is essential for children who are not under parental care that the lack of individualized support can impact a child’s learning process. The Miracle Foundation supports children getting inclusive and nurturing education that supports the child, not just their testing scores. They also ensure children are truly engaging, processing, and supported in their education journey. Having this domain in Thrive Well has helped children gain confidence and skills to pursue their goals and aspirations.
Psychological Well-Being
The emotional and physiological well-being is central for a thriving child. Focusing on mental health, emotional stability, and a sense of belonging. Early experiences in childhood play a big role in a child’s stress management, relationships, and confidence. Responsive caregiving involving talking, singing, and playing helps gear children towards their full potential. The Miracle Foundation believes that children need loving, consistent relationships to succeed. Through the Thrive Scale, partners can better understand how children are coping emotionally and pinpoint where additional support is needed. Strengthening this area helps children build confidence and self-worth as they grow up.
Health and Nutrition
Child health and nutrition are essential to childhood development, shaping how a child thinks, grows, and interacts with their surrounding environment. Health provides physical strength and a biological foundation, both needed for other areas of growth. Summarizing from UNICEF, they emphasize that childhood is a period of rapid changes, and accessing high-quality health visits helps aid a growing child. Thrive Well strengthens caregiver skills and connects families with the proper health care needs for their child, supporting proper nutrition and brain development. Furthermore, identifying those nutrition gaps in children for systems/caregivers to respond before affecting other areas of a child’s health and well-being. Since Thrive Well’s launch, there have been significant improvements in children’s overall health indicators over time.
Family and Social Relationships
One of the main domains discussed in the Miracle Foundation is social relationships. Focusing on providing strong, stable relationships, providing children with identity, and belonging. Growing up without a stable relationship can affect every part of holistic child development, making relationships foundational, not optional. Historically, Thrive Scale has been linked to a 47% improvement in the well-being scores in institutional settings. In additio,n a 20% child-family reunification rate where families were connected. Looking at these results made possible by the Miracle Foundation shows how building a strong family and social relationship using kinship care makes a tangible difference in a child’s life.
Safety and Shelter
Every child in our lifetime has a right to feel safe; this domain focuses on children’s rights and safety in a household. Children need to live in environments where they are protected from harm, allowing them to feel secure in their daily lives. Summarized from UNICEF, highlighting that protection from violence, neglect, and exploitation is important for a child’s well-being growing up. The Miracle Foundation continues to work, supporting over 10,000 families, reflecting a steady trend increasing stability for children in family-based care, by using Thrive Well to evaluate risk factors such as home protection, family stability, and community safety. When children are surrounded by the right environments with supportive adults, a rapid shift is seen within their physical and emotional development.
Supporting a growing child requires more than just meeting a single need. It requires a great understanding of the whole child. Believing in this cause, the Miracle Foundation developed the five well-being domains: education, physical and mental health, family and social relationships, safety and shelter, and stable living conditions. These domains create a strong foundation for the holistic framework needed to understand children to the fullest. After Thrive Scale was implemented through the Thrive Well app, it transformed the framework. This system is used as a practical, data-driven tool helping families, caregivers, and social workers identify those strengths, nutrition gaps, and guide family-based care and reunification. All of this kinship care replaces guesswork with consistency, advancing Miracle Foundation’s mission of creating a family for every child in our lifetime.