You hand them a referral. Then what?
The referral has always been your part. Finding a clinic that's close to home, takes the family's insurance, and has room has been left to the family. Care Connect Kids lets pediatricians, dentists, social workers, care coordinators, schools, and nonprofits hand them that next step with the referral.
Sound familiar?
You went into this work to help kids. The referral wasn't supposed to be the hard part.
- The PDF of “local pediatric therapy providers” in your shared drive was last updated in 2022. You know it's stale. You hand it out anyway because it's all you have.
- A family comes back at the next IEP meeting and tells you they called every clinic on your list — and couldn't get anyone on the phone.
- You spot a tongue thrust or a tethered tongue at a checkup and recommend therapy — but the one pediatric therapist you refer to has a full caseload, and all you can offer the family is a keyword to Google.
- A parent asks which clinic in the area takes their insurance. You don't know. The clinic websites don't always specify.
- You see kids age out of early intervention and fall straight into the gap before private therapy picks up. The handoff isn't a handoff — it's a hope.
None of that is why you got into this work.
Care Connect Kids was built for this — for parents, for clinics, and for the professionals already in the chain of care when families need help making the next move.
There's a better way.
What Care Connect Kids does for you.
The referral portal is open. Create a free account and your first referral can happen today.
Your own QR code and link.
Create a free account and the portal generates a QR code and short link unique to you. Download the QR, print it for the waiting room, show it at the point of care, or drop the link into a newsletter — referring a family takes seconds.
The family lands in good hands.
A family who scans your code lands on Care Connect Kids and picks up where you left off — therapy options close to home, which clinics list their insurance, and current wait times at partner clinics. You never touch protected health information, and the family stays in control of what they share.
See that your referrals landed — privately.
Every family who signs up through your link is credited to you, and your portal shows the running count. It's anonymous by design: you see that your referrals became signups — never who. No child names, no family details, ever.
Already keep a clinic list? Bring it.
Many practices hand families a list of therapy clinics. In the referral portal you can add yours: paste the link, upload the PDF or a photo, or type it in. Clinics on your list that are on Care Connect Kids can then carry one line that families see: “On the referral list of [your practice]”, with the date on your list.
- You decide. Your list is private until you turn it on, and you can turn it off at any time.
- It is your list, not our pick. Families also see: “This is from your practice’s own list. It is not an endorsement by Care Connect Kids.” A clinic cannot pay for the line.
- Every family still sees every clinic. A list never changes which clinics a family sees or the order they appear in. It is a label, and a filter the family can choose.
Referral lists: common questions
- What does adding our clinic list do?
- Clinics on your list that are on Care Connect Kids get one line that families see on the clinic’s card and page: “On the referral list of” your practice, with the date on your list. Families can also choose to filter to the clinics on your list.
- Is that a recommendation or an endorsement?
- No. The line says a clinic is on your practice’s referral list and nothing more. Wherever your list is named, families also see a note that it is your practice’s own list and not an endorsement by Care Connect Kids.
- Who decides whether families see our list?
- You do. A list you save is private until you turn on “Show this list to families”, and the portal shows you the exact line a family would see first. The first time, Care Connect Kids confirms that the account belongs to your practice. You can turn the list off at any time.
- Will the families we refer see our clinics first?
- No. A list never changes which clinics a family sees or the order they appear in, including for a family who scanned your QR code. Every family sees every clinic. Yours are marked, and a family can choose to look at only those.
- What happens to clinics on our list that are not on Care Connect Kids?
- They stay on your list and are not shown to families. We see them as clinics to consider adding. When one is added and we have confirmed the match, it carries your line like the others.
- Can a clinic pay to be on a referral list?
- No. Only a practice’s own list puts the line on a clinic. It cannot be bought, and it is the same for every clinic whatever plan the clinic is on.
- Do you receive anything about our patients?
- No. Your list has no patient information in it, and a family you hand a flyer or QR code to signs up on their own. Your portal shows how many families signed up through your code, never who.
- Can we change our list, and what does it cost?
- The portal account is free. To change a list, remove it and add the new version. You can keep more than one list, each with its own name and date.
If care coordination is part of your job.
Social workers, case managers, nurse navigators and family-support staff are often the ones asked to find the therapy clinic, on top of everything else. Care Connect Kids isn't a case-management tool, and you never share a child's information with us. It gives you one current place to send a family for the therapy part: clinics close to home, which ones list their insurance, and how to reach them.
For what a family faces after an evaluation, and which papers each step asks for, read After the evaluation: handing a family the next step.
Austin, Texas
You don't have to wait to start helping.
Care Connect Kids serves families across the Austin metro. Here's what you can do now.
Hand families a link, not a list.
Send the families on your caseload to careconnectkids.com instead of a printed clinic list. They find therapists close to home that list their insurance and fit how soon they need to start. Free for parents, always.
Create your referral account.
The referral portal is open. Create a free account at refer.careconnectkids.com, download your QR code, and every family who signs up through it is credited to you — anonymously, always.
Built with nonprofits, schools, and pediatric practices in mind.
If you run a family-support nonprofit, a special ed program, a school therapy department, or a pediatric practice, Care Connect Kids can become your team's shared referral tool — one current source instead of a stale PDF. Whoever keeps your family resource list creates one account for your team in a few minutes, and everyone on staff hands out the same QR code. If you'd like help getting set up, tell us about your team and we'll walk through it with you.
Currently serving families across the Austin, Texas metro.
Not sure if that includes you? Check your zip code.