Los Angeles County is home to one of the nation's largest foster care systems, serving nearly 20,000 individuals through the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). For years, court-mandated visitation between youth in foster care and their biological parents – one of the agency’s most important responsibilities – was a time-consuming process that placed a burdensome toll on families and social workers alike.

DCFS operates through multiple offices across LA County, each managing visitations slightly differently. With no centralized visibility into why appointments were missed—and visitation being critical to family reunification—the system often hindered the best efforts of DCFS staff.

Scheduling visits around the busy lives of parents, caregivers, social workers, and youth was a major challenge, made worse by outdated tools. The process relied on a patchwork of phone calls, emails, sticky notes, and disconnected databases. Miscommunication was common, leading to missed visits, duplicated work, and confusion.

Each visit demanded hours of manual coordination to schedule, track, and document. In total, 2 million staff hours are spent each year foster child visits. Families are often entitled to three-hour visits up to three times a week, making every missed visit a high-stakes loss—especially when visitation is central to reunification.

"Visitations are not just a court-mandated requirement—they're the number one indicator of family reunification," said Ericka Everakes, a former social worker who now serves as an administrative leader at DCFS. "They allow children and parents to strengthen or rebuild bonds and give social workers the chance to assess progress toward reunification."

A Catalyst for Change

Think of Us and the Anthony Pritzker Family Foundation partnered to launch a series of hackathons aimed at solving major challenges in California’s child welfare system. The initiative built on earlier work with the White House in 2016, when new federal regulations encouraged innovation from the tech and data communities. 

#HackFosterCareLA, brought together foster youth, child welfare leaders, tech experts, and nonprofit partners. It was there that the need to overhaul the visitation system became abundantly clear.

"It marked a shift in how we solve public problems," said Winnie Wechsler, former Executive Director of the Foundation. "Technology isn't a luxury—it’s a necessity in systems like these."

One of the hackathon participants was Sidebench, a software technology firm drawn in by the scale and urgency of the issue. Motivated to help California families on a massive scale, the Sidebench team conducted in-depth user research with DCFS staffers and co-designed a digital solution to simplify and humanize the visitation process.

"We worked directly with social workers and families navigating this complicated system every day," said Sidebench CEO Kevin Yamazaki. "We set out to design something that could make such an emotional and human process smoother and more humane."

The Birth of Time2Connect

Local DCFS staff helped shape the early prototypes of what would become Time2Connect (T2C), a digital platform designed to bring order to the chaos of visitation scheduling. When it debuted at a follow-up hackathon in 2018, social workers were moved to tears.

"Workers were crying," Wechsler recalled. "Because for the first time, they saw a real solution to the frustration they faced daily."

Yamazaki still remembers a story that stayed with him—a single mother working night shifts who tried to reschedule a court-approved visit. Due to scheduling and documentation breakdowns, her visit was marked as a no-show, harming her reunification case.

"That was the only time I cried during a workday," he said. "That’s when I realized we couldn’t keep spending our talent on selling more energy drinks. There’s real harm happening because these systems are broken—and we can help fix them."

While Sidebench led development, Think of Us played a key role in shaping the strategy. The organization helped convene partners, center lived-experience insight, and design a platform that addressed not only workflow inefficiencies but deeper systemic blind spots.

How Time2Connect Works

T2C functions as a digital hub for family connection, automating communication between foster parents, biological families, and social workers. Social workers initiate the process by filling out a scheduling form. From there, all parties can view upcoming visits, make requests, and receive text-based notifications to keep everyone informed.

For caseworkers, T2C drastically reduces administrative burdens and improves transparency. The platform allows users to:

• Log case notes in real time
  
• Track visits and communication with time-stamped entries
  
• Access documentation for Dependency Court
  
• Automate scheduling across multiple parties
  
• Get instant alerts for cancellations within 15 minutes
  

"I used to spend 25 hours a week scheduling visits," said Raul Perez, a Children's Services Administrator. "Now we’ve cut that in half. I can schedule months out—or even the same day. It’s a game-changer."

The platform also creates a less intimidating environment for parents. Everakes recalled how note-taking during visits used to feel invasive.

"I remember being in a bare office with a notepad in hand. Parents always wondered what we were writing," she said. "Now staff can discreetly document notes on their phones—it looks just like checking a message."

A New Chapter for Families

Parents navigating the system have felt the difference.

"The benefit of this tool is the communication—it’s so much better," said one mother. "We just send one message and everyone stays informed. I used to wait hours at locations, unsure if a visit would happen."

Scaling Across the System

After years of piloting and refinement, DCFS made Time2Connect mandatory across the Los Angeles County child welfare system in 2024. While it’s still undergoing county approvals and integration processes, early signs show strong promise.

The tool is already helping reduce staff burnout, improve compliance, and shorten timelines to reunification. It offers a compelling model for other jurisdictions seeking to modernize their approach to family visitation.

"Think of Us was essential in helping us design a tool that actually works for families and caseworkers," said Everakes.

"We believe in their vision," said Wechsler. "Time2Connect isn’t just a local solution—it’s a blueprint. It can transform how child welfare handles visitation across the country."

By reducing missed connections, cutting paperwork, and centering relationships, Time2Connect offers a glimpse of what’s possible when technology is built with—not just for—the people closest to the problem.

‍