Statistics indicate that between 40% and 60% of foster parents quit in the first twelve months. A report by The National Conference on State Legislators, entitled, Supporting and Retaining Foster Parents examines some of the reasons why foster parents quit and what foster parents need to stay motivated and effectively care for kids in their care.
Remember that existing foster parents are one of the best recruitment resources, so acknowledging their accomplishments and supporting them in whatever way possible will offer a win-win situation. Word of mouth can discourage just as well as encourage foster parenting.
Many of the suggestions offered by recruitment and retention professionals include some of the things that many treatment foster care agencies have already incorporated into their programs, including:
- Offer on-going specialized training that is appropriate for the types of children that are in the foster parents’ care.
- Develop and maintain strong relationships between the foster parents, agency, and staff members;
- Involve foster parents as much as possible in treatment planning and decision-making about the child in care. Treat foster parents as stakeholders;
- Provide assistance in helping foster parents find the services necessary for the child(ren) they have in their care;
- Help foster parents with covering additional expenses for the foster children (i.e. sports, equipment, etc);
- Foster parents work very hard and need to be continually acknowledged. Hold annual recognition events to thank foster parents. Consider sending some of foster parents to an FFTA conference as a way of saying thank you.
- Offer support groups to your foster parents. If geographical distances create challenges to meeting in person, consider setting up or utilizing a virtual foster parent support group, such as the one by FosterParentNet.
- Have foster parents complete satisfaction surveys and encourage them to offer suggestions on improving the program and/or enhancing relationships with agency staff. FFTA members can find a sample satisfaction survey in the members-only section.
- Clearly define the roles of the foster parents and agency staff and communicate those accordingly.
- Create a foster parent newsletter, which could include articles written by foster parents and foster youth or feature a foster family. The newsletter could also include useful information from the agency on tax benefits, working effectively with the school system, managing stress, upcoming training programs, etc.
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General’s Report on Retaining Foster Parents acknowledged the challenges associated with keeping foster parents and provides several ideas on ways to retain foster parents.
