There are about 343,000 children in foster care in the United States, but only 186,000 licensed foster families. Put simply, the math is not in our favor. To end the child welfare crisis in America, we need more licensed foster families than children in foster care, ensuring that no child enters foster care without a place to go. We also need to recruit and retain ideal foster homes, one of the key pillars of our Well-Being Support Ecosystem. Thankfully, we partner with an organization specializing in foster care recruitment. The Contingent, a venture nonprofit, uses data-driven technology to recruit and retain ideal family placements and empower communities for good. Learn how it works with insights from The Contingent’s CEO, Ben Sand.
From the Ground Up
About 15 years ago, Ben Sand observed how rapidly the world moved into the digital era. But as everything became about data in the for-profit world, nonprofits were slow to catch on. As a self-proclaimed data “nerd,” Ben understood the power of data and knew he could use it to make a difference. From there, he founded The Contingent. What started as one man’s dream grew into a substantial operation with three signed state contracts and several more knocking on the door.
It began in Ben’s home state of Oregon. He and his team collected all the data they could about foster families. They discovered some harrowing statistics, including low foster family recruitment and retention rates. They also noticed that many children in foster care were placed in homes that couldn’t meet their specific needs.
The Contingent got to work on a solution by performing a gap analysis. The analysis captures the status of every child’s placement and evaluates the quality of current foster placements. It asks questions like: How many kids are placed outside their county or separated from their siblings? How many kids have access to a culturally similar home? How many kids have an in-home placement that meets their complex needs?
Their research proved a need for ideal foster families. To narrow their search to these families, The Contingent compiled a list of ideal foster families to determine what characteristics they shared. Once identified, they used the data to locate more families with similar characteristics and reached out directly to gauge their interest in foster care. The results became the Every Child initiative.
After seeing success in a handful of counties, Oregon approached The Contingent in 2019, asking them to handle foster family recruitment for 75% of the state. Today, it’s 100%.
Every Child Initiative
The Contingent empowers communities through the Every Child initiative, which has assumed responsibility for foster family recruitment in Oregon, Arkansas, and Tennessee. Every Child generates both foster family and volunteer leads, working with over 200 partners in the states where they serve, including state government organizations. When a family indicates their interest in foster care, an expert from their state follows up to create a relationship and help walk them through the process. It’s a truly collaborative effort, and eventually, we aim to have an Every Child Initiative in every state.
The Contingent’s solution outperforms previous and current grassroots foster family recruitment efforts four to one, generating and distributing leads to state governments and private licensing agencies. Over the last 12 months, 4,100 families from Oregon, Arkansas, and Tennessee said they want to foster now, and 13,000 more individuals asked how to get involved and support the movement. In Arkansas, they’re working to decrease the time it takes to license foster families from six months to three months. In Tennessee, they’re helping the state reach a foster family retention rate of 80%, a significant increase from the national average of 50%.
The Ideal Foster Family Difference
What makes a foster family ideal? An ideal placement keeps children close to their family, friends, school, and neighborhood. Ideal foster families are:
- Kinship or fictive kinship (a relative or a close family friend)
- Located in the same zip code
- Open to sibling groups
- Willing to take teenagers
- Culturally similar
- Fluent in the same language
- Open to high needs children (therapeutic)
We want to prevent children from being separated from important relationships and familiar surroundings. An ideal foster family preserves those connections. In doing so, children experience less trauma, which results in better outcomes in adulthood. That’s why recruiting and retaining ideal family placements is tier two of our strategy to end the child welfare crisis in America.
When you support For Others, you help us empower partners like The Contingent to continue their incredible, life-changing work. Be a part of the mission by donating today!
