When the Annie E. Casey Foundation released its inaugural national KIDS COUNT report in 1990 to track the status of children in the United States, Georgia placed 48th out of 50 states.

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Governor Zell Miller responded to this state's dismal ranking in 1991 by establishing a two-year pilot initiative designed to coordinate services for the educational, social, economic, and physical well-being of Georgia's youngest, most vulnerable citizens.  He called the initiative  Georgia Family Connection.

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By 2004, all 159 counties in the state had voluntarily become part of the Georgia Family Connection collaborative network with an expanded focus on overall child and family well-being.  Lee County joined the state-wide network in 1996.

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The Lee County Collaborative has positioned itself as a non-profit focusing on networking and relationships; connecting both the general public to partners and partners to each other. While there is no one sentence to explain what Lee County Family Connection Collaborative does, the tag line says it all, “People, Passion, Progress".