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City Platform Section II, Step 11:
"Publicize local efforts to recruit foster and adoptive families for children who have lost their parents and cannot safely live at home."
In most communities, the number of children who cannot live with their own parents far outstrips the current supply of stable and loving families willing to care for them. While this issue typically falls outside a municipality's jurisdiction, local officials can help raise awareness of the need for foster and adoptive families through public service announcements, op-eds, and recognition of current foster and adoptive families in the community.
City Examples
New York, N.Y.
In New York City, the Administration for Children's Services reaches out to local families to provide information about becoming a foster or adoptive parent. Through a contract with a local marketing firm, they have focused on raising awareness of the need for foster parents and improving attitudes about foster parenting in four communities with the largest numbers of children in care.
They also supported the development of community-based foster parent support groups called "Circles of Support" that help foster parents have positive experiences and increase the likelihood of retention. Finally, the city hosts a parent recruitment hotline, offers a website and newsletter, and conducts orientations on a regular basis throughout the city and in nearby communities.
Like many other cities, they also collaborate with the "Wednesday's Child" program, supported by the Freddie Mac Foundation, which airs programs once a week introducing children awaiting adoption.
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Lafayette and West Lafayette, Ind.
Municipal leaders in Lafayette and West Lafayette, Indiana, have joined forces with the Greater Lafayette Community Foundation, the Tippecanoe County Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Policy Board, county officials, business leaders, service providers, foundation representatives, and community organizations to address the issue of child abuse and neglect, including efforts to recruit foster parents.
Spearheaded by a county juvenile court judge and the community foundation, a series of forums were held in 2005 to focus on the scope of the child abuse/neglect problem, services in place to address the problem, ideas for confronting the issue, and opportunities to volunteer. With positive media coverage and outstanding community support, the forums led more people to step up to become foster parents and Court Appointed Special Advocates.
Building on this momentum, a Stopping Child Abuse Summit was held in which hundreds of community members gathered together to develop a common vision for the city's youth. The summit focused on adopting the Search Institute's model of 40 developmental assets that every child should have to guide progress.
The mayors of Lafayette and West Lafayette attended and helped plan the summit, and along with their Youth Advisory Councils, have played strong roles in supporting, publicizing, and aiding all phases of the initiative, including recruitment of foster homes. The mayors have also set up a program with the police, park personnel, Department of Child Welfare, and County Probation to deal with children affected by abuse or neglect.
In addition, the mayors have both issued or will issue a proclamation to declare a "Kids First Day" in order to follow up on the first summit, assess the developmental assets efforts, and provide updates to the community on the progress that has been made.
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Resources
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