Good retention practices often lead to better recruitment outcomes. This section is devoted to practices, services, and supports that increase foster and adoptive family satisfaction, involvement and, ultimately, retention. Two aspects of retention each warrant attention - retention of inquiring families prior to placement and of families post-placement and/or after legalization. Retention is a sustained effort across the foster and adoption process that engages foster and adoptive parents and empowers them in their participation.
Ideas from the Field
Websites
Ideas from the Field
Unplanned Transfer Conferences
Sponsor: New Hampshire DCYF
Contact: Gail DeGoosh, 603-271-4711, gdegoosh@dhhs.state.nh.us
Description: In an effort to facilitate open discussion with foster parents, New Hampshire DCYF has a policy for holding "unplanned transfer" conferences when a placement disruption has occurred in a foster home. The foster parents, DCYF staff and team members, talk about what happened in that situation, and what could have been done better. Gail DeGoosh, New Hampshire's Foster Care Program Manager, says of the policy, "Just having the policy has given some peace of mind to foster parents who know they have recourse… When a placement changes, planned or not, sometimes foster parents see it as something they did wrong." These conferences are often a means of retaining foster parents who feel their voices are being heard. View a copy of the policy (PDF 15 KB/3 pages).
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Websites
Casey Family Programs
http://www.casey.org/Home
Child Welfare Information Gateway
http://www.childwelfare.gov/
National Child Welfare Resource Center for Adoption
http://www.nrcadoption.org
National Foster Parent Association
http://www.nfpainc.org
National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/
North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC)
http://www.nacac.org
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