— FRIENDS OF THE FORGOTTEN
Sent. Not Sidelined.
Longing becomes belonging.
Friends of the Forgotten restores hope and dignity through a simple but radical idea: disabled adults mentoring disabled and disadvantaged children growing up in institutional care. Both have gifts to give. Both have gifts to receive. Together, longing becomes belonging.
— THE FOUNDING MOMENT
One moment changed everything.
A forgotten child reached out to a man born without arms — and in doing so, revealed the entire mission.
Larger — and more specific — than most people know.
— THE SCALE OF THE NEED
5–6 million
children live in institutional care worldwide
30–80%
In some regions, children with disabilities represent this share of them
Sources: UNICEF · Better Care Network · Hope and Homes for Children
Even in well-run facilities, one caregiver may be responsible for 10 to 30 children — making faithful, personal presence nearly impossible. When a child grows up without someone who shows up again and again, the message they absorb is devastating:
"You do not matter."
Friends of the Forgotten exists to interrupt that message.
— OUR APPROACH
Most programs send experts to fix children.
We send witnesses.
Those Who
Want to Be Needed
Many disabled adults yearn for purpose and carry remarkable empathy — forged through their own experience of adversity. They don't need to be helped. They need to be sent.
Those Who
Need to Be Wanted
Children growing up in institutional care often face isolation, emotional hardship, and a painful absence of individual attention. What they need most cannot be programmed or scheduled. They need an understanding person who shows up.
Together: Freed to Be Loved
When a disabled adult mentors a child in institutional care, both lives change. Children discover they are wanted. Mentors discover they were never sidelined — they were sent. The relationship itself becomes the healing.
Longing becomes belonging.
— THE URGENCY
This is not a distant problem. Right now, in care facilities across the developing world, children with disabilities and other disadvantages are growing up without a single person who knows their name and comes back.
The first five years of life are the most critical window for development — and the most vulnerable to the absence of relationship. Friends of the Forgotten is active globally. The need exceeds what we can currently meet. Every mentor commissioned and every dollar given extends our reach to children who cannot wait.
Right now, children are waiting.
It begins with one person showing up.
— BUILT ON LIVED EXPERIENCE
Not theory. Lived experience.
John Foppe was born without arms. With more than 16 years of nonprofit leadership, he founded this mission not from the outside looking in — but from the inside out.
Our mentors are not volunteers who feel sorry for the children they serve. They are disabled adults who have navigated a world that underestimated them — and whose presence communicates what no program can:
"I know what this feels like. You are not alone. You have gifts to give."
Aquesia, from Guyana saw how John uses his feet for everything — so she colored him one. The forgotten are paying attention.
— THE VISION
A different world is possible.
We are building a world where disabled adults are sent with purpose and
disabled and disadvantaged children are no longer invisible.
A world where faithful presence replaces isolation.
A world where the overlooked become the sent, and the forgotten discover they were always wanted.
Sent. Not Sidelined.
Seen. Not Shunned.
It begins with one person showing up.
— YOUR YES
Your yes becomes part of a larger story.
Whether you mentor, give, or help build partnerships, you are not simply supporting a cause. You are joining a mission that restores dignity to both sides of the relationship — and proves that the world's most overlooked people were never meant to be sidelined.
Are You a
Disabled Adult?
This mission was built for you — not around you. If you've known what it means to be overlooked, you may already carry what this mission needs most.
Give to the Mission
This mission was built for you — not around you. If you've known what it means to be overlooked, you may already carry what this mission needs most.
Partner With Us
Facilities, schools, and hospitals can bring this mission to life — through our mentorship partnerships and seminars. No child should grow up forgotten.