Placement and recruitment teams do their best work when they understand the specific needs and circumstances of the children and youth in your system.

Include placement and recruitment workers in your routine planning meetings so they can make better placement decisions and focus their efforts where they're most needed.

How to do this

Hold monthly meetings to review placement needs. Include case workers, placement workers, and recruiters to discuss children and youth who don't have placements or who have poor placements. If possible, include private agency representatives as well.

Include placement and recruitment team members in regular planning meetings. This ensures they stay informed about ongoing cases and emerging needs beyond just placement reviews.

Create more opportunities for placement workers to communicate with case workers. This allows them to ask questions and learn more about the current needs of children and youth.

This strategy in action

In Frederick County, MD, case workers and placement workers collaborate closely. This lets all team members work together to match children and youth to caregivers who can meet their needs.

Hawaii holds monthly calls to review its list of children and youth who need placements. These meetings include case workers, shelter representatives, administrators, and recruiters.

Washington, D.C. meets every other week with placement and recruitment teams to plan for emerging needs and trends.