California Foster Care: Recruitment, training, and retention of foster care homes

California Foster Care: Recruitment, training, and retention of foster care homes - Kindle edition by Eva Johnson. Download it once and read it on your Kindle.
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• Foster Parent Recruitment and Retention | Board of Supervisors
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• Rethinking Foster Parent Recruitment & Retention

FCS already produces quarterly reports with excellent demographic data on the foster care system that is then used to target efforts to specific neighborhoods, organizations, and individuals. The Stuart Foundation has also provided support to target recruitment within the faith-based community in southeastern San Francisco where fully one-third of all citywide foster children originate.

HHS uncovered two innovative techniques in a nationwide survey of state foster parent recruitment efforts. These low-cost recruitment methods could replace portions of the more expensive and less effective methods of advertising in major television and radio outlets. However, there are a number of steps that FCS and the Board could take to further improve recruitment of foster parents in San Francisco.

Outreach - Utilizing techniques proven effective in other California counties such as encouraging referrals from other foster parents as indicated by Mr. Funding - Providing recruitment funds to pay foster parents hourly rates to attend orientations, trainings, and events or moderate stipends for every successful foster parent referral.

The Board may also wish to pass a resolution encouraging DHS to quickly fill the second training position vacated by a retirement earlier this year. Technical Assistance - Providing in-kind technical assistance and mediation to two existing nonprofit foster parent associations in San Francisco struggling to establish rules of procedure, ethics, and organizational structure. Performance Measurement - Working with FCS and the Controller's Office to develop benchmarks and goals to assess the effectiveness of different recruitment techniques.

Once foster parents have been identified and trained, however, it is often difficult to keep them actively engaged in the foster care system. According to the National Foster Parent Association, "as many as 60 percent of new foster parents quit in the first 12 months - and the primary reason they give is lack of support, communication, or response from the foster care system. Simple funding can go a long way to aid foster parent retention efforts.

In Oregon, the State Children's Services Division conducted a study of 72 foster families in order to determine the effects of enhanced support and training of foster parents on retention and outcomes for children.

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They divided the participating families into three groups: Compared to the state average of 40 percent discontinuation of care, the results reflect the positive effect of additional support training, money, and other services on foster parent retention. Of participating families, 9. In addition to providing financial support, foster parents need resources and recognition to keep involved.

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In Los Angeles County, the Children and Family Services Division partners with area community colleges to provide continuing education to foster parents, 99 percent of which, according to Shirley McNeal, are provided for free. The County also regularly provides special "Angel Heart" recognition to foster parents in each of Los Angeles County's twelve districts. In San Rafael in Marin County, Full Circle Program psychologists use a new technique called "parent-child interaction therapy" to teach parents how to be more supportive and encouraging. County family and child psychologists observe parents interacting with their children from behind a one-way glass mirror and coach them via hidden transceivers in the parent's ear.

Communication - Ensuring better communication between and among caseworkers and foster parents by, a establishing a mentoring program for new foster parents to be paired with those with more experience, and b implementing the lessons learned from a spring foster parent survey and an anticipated February retreat between caseworkers and foster parents.

Acknowledgement - Attending and supporting the annual foster parent dinner in May, hosting dedicated events for foster children and their foster parents, and recognizing and commending outstanding foster parents and caseworkers for their contributions to the community on a monthly rather than an annual basis. This could include a foster parent or caseworker of the month program, a foster parent mentorship program, prizes donated by the City or local businesses, or other low-cost means of improving foster parent morale.

Housing - Providing housing incentives to licensed foster parents such as a subsidized rents on Treasure Island or at the Presidio, or b establishing criteria with the San Francisco Housing Authority to prevent moving foster parents in public housing into smaller units if they do not have a foster placement at the time of the Authority's semi-annual census.

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The Board could also provide reduced cost or free access to parks, MUNI, and other city activities for foster children and their foster parents. Janet Rehnquist, May Skip to main content. Members of the Board of Supervisors From: February 23, RE: Foster Parent Recruitment and Retention File Summary and Scope of Request Supervisor Maxwell requested that the Office of the Legislative Analyst OLA research successful foster care system models in municipalities similar to San Francisco particularly identifying incentives and support programs that have proven successful for foster parents.

Executive Summary The number of foster children in the San Francisco foster system has remained stable at approximately 2, It seems that the past One and half decades has been a blur of major public policy and service delivery paradigm shifts—but, these are changes for the better.

One of the most profound changes can be summed up in these words: Foster Care as we have known it for decades, is on its way out! This is a good thing because no child should be raised in an institutional setting.

Foster-adoption services have grown exponentially as a mechanism to quickly establish a permanent family for children and youth in foster care. For all intents and purposes, the role of the traditional foster parent is quickly transforming into a Professional Parent who serves as a resource to the foster child. This will include providing: Currently, there is a severe shortage of foster parents across the country. For this much needed change in Public Policy to succeed, we must rethink and modify our Resource Parent recruitment and retention approach!

Second, compensate Resource Parents as professionals!