Resource Parent Recruitment, Retention and Support Resources

The tools and resources listed below can assist you as you develop and implement resource parent recruitment strategies to support placement stability and permanency for children and youth in foster care. *Tools are courtesy of Dr. Denise Goodman, PhD unless otherwise noted.

Recruitment & Support During Social Distancing

General Recruitment

General Recruitment focuses on reaching mass audiences through media and public outreach programs. Although this is the most common recruitment method, it is the least focused. General recruitment is best when used to raise community awareness of the continuing needs for resource families or to establish a trusting partnership with communities.

Targeted Recruitment

Targeted recruitment is an effective strategy for recruiting the right resource parents that are needed, based on agency data. The use of data helps target what types of homes and families (i.e. for teens, probation youth, etc.) the agency needs to recruit as well as understand composition of current resource families.

Child-Specific Recruitment

Child-specific recruitment is individual recruitment plans for a specific child based on the child’s background and it is an effective strategy for helping find permanent families for children who are placed in foster care

Watch Jesus, a foster youth, and his father share their story of how they became family, creating a new story for their lives.


Video Clips:


Supporting Resource Families

Foster Parent Recruitment, Retention and Support Funding

Family Finding Due Diligence and Reasonable Efforts


Technical Assistance

A key role of the Children and Youth System of Care State Technical Assistance Team is to develop guidance and provide technical assistance to local partner agencies in order to identify and secure the appropriate level of services to meet the needs of children and youth in foster care. Local agencies may request technical assistance from the Team through the following survey.