Get Involved
Join Us!
CHAMPS is a national campaign to spur policy improvements nationally and in states to ensure children in foster care experience the highest quality parenting
We invite all interested stakeholders to get involved and be part of building bright futures for kids in foster care.
What can you do? Explore this “Get Involved” page to get ideas and find resources to help you take action. For example:
- Child welfare agency leaders can review the policy playbook to identify policies and programs that can strengthen the way they recruit, train, support, and partner with foster parents. Contact CHAMPS for technical assistance.
- Advocates can spread the word about CHAMPS and the importance of quality foster parenting; lead advocacy efforts locally, and be a resource to policy makers.
- Foster parents, youth-serving providers, faith-based organizations and other interested stakeholders can be a resource by sharing your personal and professional expertise about what’s needed in your community to better support quality foster parenting.
Be sure to explore this page to learn about all the ways you can take action.
Spread the Word
There’s increasing urgency in communities across the country for solutions that support quality foster parenting. Visit this “spread the word” section for ideas about how you help communicate about the need for solutions in your community. CHAMPS provides ready-to-use newsletters, blogs, postcards, sample tweets and images for sharing on social media. You’ll also find materials you can use at conferences and meetings, such as one-page hand-outs of the CHAMPS policy solutions, research summaries, and a PowerPoint slide deck that you can use to give a talk.
Advocate for Children & Families
You can advocate for improvements by reaching out to engage your state’s policy makers in a dialogue about foster parenting. We encourage you to use the CHAMPS policy playbook as a resource. Review the playbook to identify specific recommendations or examples you’d like to focus on in your state. Visit the CHAMPS state map for contact information to your child welfare agency. You can use this sample letter to communicate with decision makers. If you or your organization is interested in hosting a town hall meeting, please reach out to CHAMPS so we can assist your efforts. Reach us at: info@fosteringchamps.org
Share Your Point of View
CHAMPS invites foster families, young leaders and others to share their perspectives on what’s needed to achieve quality foster parenting. Many voices will foster greater understanding and raise national attention about the importance of quality foster parenting in the lives of children and youth. There are different ways to share your point of view: (1) contact us to submit a guest blog post (see our blog); (2) contribute a short video to be included in our video resources (see video project’s guidance here ) and (3) and share examples of effective foster parenting policies or programs in your state so we can add examples to the CHAMPS playbook. Reach us at: info@fosteringchamps.org
Be a Resource; Share Your Expertise
The Playbook is grounded in evidence and provides policy examples that, when implemented, will pave the way for transformational change for children, families and child welfare systems. Issue experts, including parents and youth with personal experience in foster care, helped develop the Playbook’s recommendations. See here for the Playbook.
Become a CHAMP
Sign the CHAMPS pledge to show your support for creating bright futures for children in foster care. Children do best in families and quality foster parenting is critical to helping children heal, grow and thrive. The CHAMPS pledge is an easy way you can get involved. Individuals and organizations that sign the pledge will be listed as ‘supporters’ on the CHAMPS website. In addition to signing the pledge, consider becoming a pledge captain and helping us to encourage others to sign on. Contact us at info@fosteringchamps. We hope you take the CHAMPS pledge!
Be Inspired
Watch — and share — these inspiring videos from great foster parents and from young people who’ve experienced foster care as they talk about the importance of quality foster parenting. In addition, please contact us if you’re interested in creating a video to share here. In addition to stories from foster parents, we’d love to hear from employers, community- and faith-based organizations, teachers, health professionals and others about policies and practices in your community that are helping support quality foster parenting. You can contact us at info@fosteringchamps.org to get more information about how to submit a video.
Connect
What People are Saying
Foster parents can be absolute game-changers in children’s lives. Amazing foster parents are out there, and if we can help share their challenges and triumphs and convince people to join them we can really do something special here.
Foster parents that are supported, resourced, and respected as a vital team member have a much better chance of being GREAT foster parents… and every child in foster care deserves a great foster parent.
Children in foster care deserve the best parents possible! We’re excited to be working to achieve a system where the public agency partners with foster parents to ensure children have caring, trained, supported foster parents if they have to enter foster care.
Share THIS HANDOUT with your network. And see other ideas on this “Get Involved” section for ways you can take action, such as by signing the pledge. Like Us on Facebook.
See Who's Involved
CHAMPS is pleased to be joined by a number of outstanding national and state campaign partners. See who has joined us!
See the Latest
CHAMPS is an exciting new policy campaign with dozens of partner organizations working together to highlight the vital importance of foster parents to the health and well-being of children in foster care. Check out what’s going on nationally and in the states.