Use Extreme Family Finding methods when necessary

About this recommendation

Child welfare systems have limited resources for family finding, and family may be unwilling to talk to government officials like Department staff. Extreme Family Finding puts a private investigator on the case of finding a child’s full family tree, some of whom may be more willing to talk to a detective.

Children who are selected for Extreme Family Finding can enter with as few as no connections, and a goal of creating a genogram of at least 125 adults. Extreme Family Finding also focuses on youth who are most at risk of aging out of care without permanency. While the primary goal for family finding is to find a permanent placement, this effort is also crucial for building up an entire supportive network for every youth.

How to do this

Initial Extreme Family Finding sites were funded by a grant from the Children’s Bureau, but even absent an official grant, you can recreate parts of the program by:

• Building extensive genograms for every child in care, with the goal of filling in at least 30-80 connections.
• Hiring a private investigator to find and talk to family connections for foster youth with few known connections.
• Preserving known connections as soon as children enter care with heart maps and plans to stay connected to supportive adults.

Anticipated costs and benefits

Who's doing this

2 of 54 states and territories have implemented this recommendation.

• Rhode Island reports a 95% success rate at making connections for its foster children with this program. Watch this video about Rhode Island’s Extreme Family Finding.
• Read about Missouri’s success stories.