Highlights

New State-by-State Findings on Foster Parenting Measures from the Child and Family Services Reviews

See this new brief to learn more about how states are doing on foster parenting practices identified by CHAMPS as being key to promoting better outcomes for children and youth in foster care.

New Federal Policy Recommendations from CHAMPS

See here for the campaign’s FOUR winning policy solutions for promoting better and more equitable outcomes for children and youth in foster care by strengthening foster parent recruitment, retention and support.

New Research and Policy Brief on Effective Family-Based Foster Care Policies

This four page brief provides the latest research on the benefits of family-based foster care over group care and highlights four winning policy approaches to help states recruit, support and retain kin and non-kin foster families.

See here for the Harvey family story.

Celebrating & Supporting Foster Families

Science supports what we know to be true, which is that children do best in families. This holds true for children and youth in foster care, who do best when they live with someone they know and trust, like family members (kin) or friends.

When kinship foster care is not possible, children and youth should have the opportunity to live with foster families who have the necessary skills and support to nurture their health and well-being. By lifting up and celebrating amazing foster families, we hope that policymakers will gain a greater understanding about the vital role that foster families play in providing stable, loving care to children and in nurturing reunification and other paths to permanency.

  • Read about the Scott family of New York here.
  • Read about the Harvey family of Washington, D.C. here.

Policymakers can see the CHAMPS policy playbook as well as the campaign’s new federal policy recommendations for actionable steps to supporting families and creating better outcomes for children and youth in foster care.

Analysis of State 2020-2024 Foster & Adoptive Parent Diligent Recruitment Plans

This new report highlights innovative examples of foster parent recruitment and retention strategies. We hope child welfare agencies across the country will draw on these examples as they work to improve foster parenting and family-based care. The report also offers recommendations for federal and state policymakers to drive better results through improved use of data; aligning federal financing in support of effective foster family recruitment, training and support; promoting measurable outcomes; and encouraging better partnerships between families and agencies.

 

policy playbook

second edition

The playbook showcases research-based policy recommendations and examples that aim to inform and inspire ongoing state and tribal efforts to improve the lives of children in foster care. These playbook is organized around the CHAMPS six priority policy goals.

The six policy goals include:

  • Support relationships between birth and foster families
  • Implement data-driven recruitment and retention practices
  • Engage foster parents in decision making
  • Provide timely access to trusted, dedicated staff and peer support to foster parents
  • Prioritize placements with family members and other family connections
  • Ensure timely access to physical and mental health services

Visit Our Online Playbook

Visit our new Searchable Policy Database

Policy Playbook Graphic
Policy Playbook Graphic

Policy Playbook

first edition

The Playbook serves as an idea bank of policy approaches to guide to state-level reform efforts.

The Policy 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. The Playbook focuses on policies that promote (1) quality caregiving, (2) parents as partners in decision-making, and (3) quality assurance to help agencies maintain a priority focus on foster parenting.

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CHAMPS Resources

Find national and state-specific resources about quality foster parenting and its benefits for children.

This resource section contains a variety of materials, including policy and research reports, news articles, event information, videos, fact sheets and more.  If you know about resources that should be included, please send them to us at info@fosteringchamps.org

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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.

Jeremy Kohomban,
President and CEO,
The Children’s Village

Get Involved

We invite you to get involved in CHAMPS and be part of building bright futures for kids in foster care.

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.