Foster Parent Recruitment and Retention

1. Foster Parent Recruitmentand Retention Presented by: Roxanna Jolly

2. Why this topic? • Foster parents are advocates for an at-risk population. - On Their Own by Martha Shirk and Gary Stangler - “Costs” of individualized care vs. group care • Need for “willing” foster parents • “Retention is recruitment”

3. Outline

4. Overview of Foster Care Trends in Foster Care and Adoption—FY 2002-FY 2009(Based on data submitted by states as of July 29, 2010)Source: AFCARS data, U.S. Children's Bureau, Administration for Children, Youth and Families http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/trends.htm

5. Overview of Foster Care As soon as a complaint is received, a virtual industry of social workers, lawyers, judges and administrators goes to work, and no matter how pure the intentions are, the process often deteriorates into chaos. A central goal of child welfare is permanence and stability for the child, but cases routinely become so mired in complications, and legalities, and indecision, and nastiness, and the necessity of trying to understand a specific moment in the larger context of societal issues, that the focus can shift from the search for permanence to the mere passage of time. Months pass. Years pass. Rather than resolution, there is a drift, so much that nationally, on average a third of the children entering foster care will be there in excess of two years, creating, instead of stability, an ambiguity that can be damaging. - Colbert King http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/state-data-repository/cwf/2010/child-welfare-financing-oregon-2010.pdf

6. Motivations for Fostering Intrinsic and Extrinsic

7. Misleading Recruitment Messages “Recruiting agencies continue to lead families to believe that they can make a difference by providing love and a home when children need much more than that.” Caseworker, Recruiting Foster Parents, DHHS