Diligent Recruitment of Families for Children in the Foster Care System

In 2008, the Children’s Bureau published a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for Diligent Recruitment of Families for Children in the Foster Care System. This announcement identified a need for the development and implementation of national adoption and foster care strategies, data systems, interventions, and training and technical assistance to address the fact that “in 22 States, [there is] a need for more culturally diverse homes (e.g., Native American, African-American, and Hispanic)...” In addition, the FOA noted that findings related to the systemic factors in the Child and Family Services Review process revealed that “30 States had no formal process for analyzing the characteristics of the children in foster care in order to formulate a diligent recruitment plan with specific strategies for different communities based on the demographics of the children in foster care from that community. All of these findings support the need to develop more effective programs in support of placing children and youth with families who can provide permanent family connections.” (FOA, p. 5-6).