Targeted recruitment techniques for increasing available licensed foster homes.

1. Targeted
RecruitmentEFFECTIVE TARGETED RECRUITMENT EFFORTS
THE CHILDREN’S BUREAU FUNDS (ADOPT US KIDS),
PART OF A NETWORK OF NATIONAL RESOURCE CENTERS ESTABLISHED BY THE CHILDREN’S BUREAU.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION. © 2002-2015 ADOPTION EXCHANGE ASSOCIATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

2. Target Prospective Foster Parents to Match Their Strengths and Skills
With the Specific Needs of Children Entering Foster Care
 Seek prospective foster parents that have the skills and willingness to
accept the children coming into care. (Some may be more skilled
with very young children, and others best with teens and young
adults).
 Fully understand the needs, lifestyles, demographics and profiles of
the prospective caregivers.
 Pay attention to needs of children and youth. Those needs include:
placement in their own neighborhoods, in the same location as their
home school, in proximity to their parents/siblings and other
alternative caregivers.

3. Engaging the Business Community
 Example: “Kentucky’s Project MATCH (Making Appropriate and
Timely Connections for Children)* Used targeted recruitment to drive
efforts and messages aimed at populations that are most likely to be
strong possibilities to become foster and adoptive parents for the
children and youth in need of placement.
 Example: Town with Children, staff identified a restaurant where
adults from that market segment are likely to eat. Project MATCH
partnered with that restaurant to allow their servers to wear T-shirts
promoting project MATCH and a phone number on the sign outside
the restaurant, distributed brochures about foster care and
generously offered a 10 percent discount to foster parents and
foster care workers that came to the restaurant to eat.
 *National Resource Center, Children’s Bureau. Adoption Exchange
Association. All Rights Reserved. © 2002-2015

4. Engaging the Business Community continued…
 Develop targeted and data driven recruitment strategies, use the
same data to plan for family retention, preparation and support
activities
 Example: If you are recruiting families for teens, have information
and resources to share with prospective families about how to meet
the needs of teens in foster care.
National Resource Center, Children’s Bureau. Adoption Exchange
Association. All Rights Reserved. © 2002-2015

5. Effective targeted recruitment
efforts:
 Are data driven. Agencies research and build their recruitment
strategies based on demographic characteristics, values, and
behaviors to better identify potential successful families.
 Are culturally competent. Agencies continuously develop skills in
working effectively with the various social, racial and ethnic groups
who reflect the diversity of children and youth in care.
 Use the right messages and media. Agencies’ messages appeal to the
targeted parents’ values and are placed where parents are likely to
respond.
 Are designed to focus on supporting and retaining foster and adoptive
parents at every stage of the process.

6. Find families who are similar to your most successful
foster , adoptive and relative placements.
 Use community-based methods. Agencies reach out to, and build
meaningful relationships with the communities they serve. They
deliver services in ways that are most accessible and appropriate
for each community.
 Partner with faith-based organizations interested in helping recruit
foster and adoptive families from their faith community.
 Develop community-based recruitment teams specific to a
geographic region to build pools of resource families who reflect the
racial and ethnic characteristics of the children and youth in your
agency’s care.
 Who are the families you should be targeting? What are the best
ways to reach these families? Where can you find these families?

7. National Resource Center, Children’s Bureau. Adoption Exchange
Association. All Rights Reserved. © 2002-2015