Recruitment and Retention
State and federal resources
Web pages
- AdoptUSKids
- Diligent Recruitment Navigator
- Diligent Recruitment of Families for Children in the Foster Care System: Challenges and Recommendations for Policy and Practice (Administration for Children and Families) (PDF)
- Foster Adopt Minnesota - Resources for Permanent Placement of Children in Minnesota
- National Center for Diligent Recruitment
- Recruiting and Retaining Families for Children and Youth in Foster Care (Child Welfare Information Gateway)
Videos
AdoptUSKids
- Recruiting, Developing, and Supporting Resources Families in Rural Communities (2016)
- Recruiting foster and adoptive families of color: Stories and strategies from leaders of color in child welfare (2022)
National Center for Diligent Recruitment
- Bringing your diligent recruitment plan to life: Developing a meaningful implementation plan (2024)
- Enhancing your diligent recruitment through adoptive, foster, and kinship parent support (2024)
- Kinship as a diligent recruitment strategy: Lessons learned from Tribes (2024)
- Leveraging data to improve diligent recruitment planning and implementation (2024)
- The Reel Hope Project: Foster Care Stories
Relative search
- Casey Family Programs
- What are some examples of effective family search and engagement? (2024)
- Connect Our Kids web-based family mapping and engagement tool
- Child Welfare Playbook
- Use social media to find family members
- Kin-First Recruitment (New York)
DCYF-funded strategies
The department has created or contracted with the following providers to provide services to agencies at no cost.
Child-specific recruitment
- Ampersand Families – Kin Link
- 30 Days to Family®
- Relative search
- Early family search
- Relative search and engagement
- Adoption support: Working together to help families (DHS-4923) (Public Private Permanency Collaborative (PPPC), previously known as Public Private Adoption Initiative (PPAI))
- Foster Adopt Minnesota - Meet the kids
- Permanency Services Resource Hub - Guide to professional resources for the kinship, foster and adoption community
- Visit the For Professionals password-protected page to access a one-stop referral center to refer a Minnesota child or teen for the following recruitment services: PPPC Agencies, Minnesota Heart Gallery, The Reel Hope Project and Meet the Kids. To access the password-protected area, please email FAM Resource Hub staff at info@permanencyhubmn.org.
- Minnesota Heart Gallery
- The Reel Hope Project
Targeted recruitment
Targeted recruitment considers the specific needs of children and youth in need of foster and adoptive families, including demographic data, to target families willing and able to meet those needs.
- Foster Adopt Minnesota, Zero Kids Waiting (mailto:zkw@fosteradoptmn.orgcan work directly with Tribal and county agencies through community events and create partnerships with local news and print media to raise awareness of the unique placement needs of the children and youth in need of foster and adoptive families.
- Public Private Permanency Collaborative (PPPC) Adoption support: Working together to help families (DHS-4923)
General recruitment
General recruitment strategies seek to inform the community at large of the need for foster and adoptive parents, such as booths, media releases, social media posts/billboards, etc.
- Foster parent recruitment toolkit (Minnesota Department of Human Services)
- Foster Adopt Minnesota, Zero Kids Waiting (zkw@fosteradoptmn.org) can work directly with Tribal and county agencies to host community events and assist to create partnerships with local news and print media to build awareness of the need for foster and adoptive parents.
Resources from other organizations
Practice guides
- A CHAMPS Guide on Foster Parent Recruitment and Retention: Strategies for developing a comprehensive program (PDF)
- Analysis of State Foster and Adoptive Parent Diligent Recruitment Plans 2020-2024 (CHAMPS) (PDF)
- Recruitment, Training, and Support: The essential tools of foster care (Annie E. Casey Foundation)
- Treat them like gold: A best practice guide to partnering with resource families (North Carolina Division of Social Services, 2015) (PDF)
- Using Customer Service Concepts to Enhance Recruitment and Retention Practices (AdoptUSKids)
Articles
- Administration for Children and Families
- Understanding and complying with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and The Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994, as amended by The Interethnic Adoption Provisions
- Casey Family Programs
- How can behavioral science be used to recruit foster and adoptive families?
- How have some child protection agencies successfully recruited and retained resource families?
- Strategies for Successfully Recruiting and Retaining Preferred-Placement Foster Homes for American Indian Children
- What are some strategies for finding and keeping traditional and therapeutic resource families? (PDF)
- Children Need Amazing Parents (CHAMPS)
- Research and Policy Solutions: Winning Approaches to Strengthening Family-Based Care (PDF)
- Families Rising
- Intentionality: It’s What Foster Parent Recruitment and Retention Needs
- Finding African American Families for Foster Children: Tips for Workers & Agencies
- National Foster Parent Association
- Modernizing Foster Care
- Quality Parenting Initiative
- Recruiting 4 Free: It can be done!!! (2020)
- Walden University
- Foster Care Parents Recruitment and Retention Strategies for Behavioral Health Leaders (2023) (PDF)
Tools from other states
New York
- Foster care recruitment: Practical strategies
- Revitalizing recruitment: Practical strategies for finding and keeping kinship, foster, and adoptive homes (2018) (PDF)
- Taking action: a blueprint for targeted recruitment and retention of foster, adoptive, and kinship parents (2016) (PDF)
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state-supervised, county-administered state, similar to Minnesota’s structure. North Carolina’s tools may be helpful.
- Diligent Recruitment and Retention Resource Guide (pp. 2-5) (PDF)
- Practice Notes: What can I and my agency do to improve recruitment? (2008) (PDF)
- Diligent Recruitment Plan (2025-2029) (PDF)
- Training as a recruitment and retention strategy (PDF)
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