The Sampson family
The Nemelka family
Our Circle began with two fourth birthdays.
Sterling wished for a friend as he blew out his candles.
Years earlier, Eli was the first of five siblings to have no friends at his birthday party.
Both boys have support needs.
Both families felt isolated, not because connection didn’t exist, but because there was no clear way to find others who understood their world.
So we built what our families needed: a safe way to find each other, connect, and belong.
Zero friends came to Sterling’s fourth birthday. Less than a year later, 26 friends came to his next one.
We envision a world where every child with support needs has a friend, not by chance, but by design.
Our Circle exists to reduce isolation for families raising children with support needs by helping them build safe, meaningful, real-world connections with other families who truly understand their lived experience.
- Belonging Is Vital
- We unapologetically believe belonging is not a luxury, social extra, or 'nice to have'. Belonging is vital because meaningful social connection improves mental health, family resilience, and other important health and economic outcomes.
- Inclusion Without Hierarchy
- There is no single way to experience disability, neurodivergence, medical complexity, or difference. We include all families and reject comparisons, labeling, ranking, or severity narratives.
- Safety Builds Trust
- Trust is earned through consistent, intentional protection of families. We prioritize safety, privacy, and respectful interaction – in-person and digitally – over rapid scale.
- Empowerment Over Assumption
- We empower families to co-design solutions grounded in their real, everyday needs rather than institutional assumptions.
- Integrity First and Always
- We protect family trust through ethical stewardship, including a commitment to data privacy, never selling family data, and prioritizing long term impact.
Hear from our founders.
How Our Circle started, why we built it, and what it changed for our own families.
Psst…Don’t miss the last eight seconds.