Today, we unveil a new BEB brand and tagline that clearly states what we believe.

Children first. Family forever.

While there are more details than I can account for in this blogpost, I reflect on the amazing evolution of our organization that started when Craig Juntunen shared his story and then created and toured his award-winning documentary, Stuck, to shed light on the grave issues facing children of the world. Following the tour, he gathered global child welfare leaders at Harvard to discuss the greatest challenges of their systems. This profound time together revealed that countries lacked the digital infrastructure designed to create visibility into who children are, where they come from and how they might be moved to a better future. These gatherings continued, and the network grew stronger into what is now known as our “Global Working Group”. The group gathers to collaborate and share information and ideas critical to producing change. Finally, with the mobilization of the world’s smartest software developers through Tyler Technologies and the collaboration with countries around the world, BEB bridged the technology gap through Children First Software.

Designed to transform the child welfare system and permanently change the way we see vulnerable children, CFS is the only technology platform of its kind. Developed in partnership with Tyler Technologies, CFS works to create digital profiles of children living in institutions and orphanages around the world — activating the first of a five-phase process that follows the principles of the Hague Convention. With access to the child’s family history, demographics and health records, social workers can better advocate for the child and begin the journey to place them in loving families. Scalable and configurable to each country’s unique needs, CFS empowers those working on behalf of children to see and control a process that was previously absent and left them to languish for years in destitution.

In addition to working with current partners to ensure children registered in CFS continue along the path to uniting with families, BEB seeks to expand into new countries, help create more loving families, and increase awareness around the plight of institutionalized children.

To meet our goals, BEB will need the support of people like you — and in larger numbers from all around the world. That’s why we’ve taken the opportunity to refresh our brand identity to more clearly convey BEB’s purpose and make an appeal for all potential partners to join us. With a clearer articulated purpose and updated visual brand, BEB will be more memorable and stand out as a sophisticated, trustworthy and sustainable organization.

We hope that by elevating the organization’s profile, we expand our network and improve our opportunities to engage with new countries — all with the goal of ending pain and loneliness for millions of institutionalized children, uniting them with families, and giving every child an opportunity to reach their potential in life.