Focus recruitment on fostering, not adoption

About this recommendation

Many child welfare systems license hundreds of families that are only interested in adopting infants. These homes are not always needed and can take up valuable staff time and financial resources to license and maintain.

By updating your recruitment materials, messaging, and inquiry forms, you can highlight the real needs of your child welfare agency: foster families who will prioritize helping to reunify and heal a child’s family of origin or provide permanency for older youth and sibling groups. Case workers should have multiple conversations about potential families’ expectations and work to clarify that fostering is not the right choice for a family that is only looking to adopt an infant.

How to do this

• If you ask about placement preferences in your inquiry form, remove references to adoption. Draft email and letter templates to respond to families who are only interested in adoption, to redirect them to legally-free youth in need of families.
• Promotional materials about adoption should reflect the children who need adoptive homes. You can remove or replace any photos or references to babies and toddlers.
• Train staff in how to discuss and realign expectations with families who are interested in fostering to adopt.

Anticipated costs and benefits

Who's doing this

4 of 54 states and territories have implemented this recommendation.

• Montgomery County, MD’s statute states “our purpose is to meet the needs of the kids in our community” and they have no children awaiting adoption. They use this statute to politely decline families who are only interested in adoption.
• Washington, D.C. helps set expectations during orientation, by sharing that they have not had a legally-free infant available in over a decade. They also remind families that the agency is not an adoption agency.
• Indiana maintains clear messaging with potential foster families as well as staff, to remind all parties that their role is to support the reunification of the family of origin. They report that this video is helpful in training.