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Collaborative Strategies for Diligent Recruitment / Los Angeles County, Department of Children and Family Services.
Los Angeles County (CA). Department of Children and Family Services.
Final Report
[124] p.
Public Domain
Published: December 30, 2015
Download: https://go.usa.gov/xNKEw
This report describes the activities and accomplishments of a federally funded program to recruit families for children in the foster care system in Los Angeles County. The Collaborative Strategies for Diligent Recruitment was a multi-pronged effort to build cultural capacity and understanding among staff with respect to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) youth and families, recruit and retain more Resource Parents who can meet the needs of children in care, and maximize the number of children in LA County, particularly African-American, deaf, LGBTQ, Latino and probation youth, who reach permanency. The following agencies were contracted or identified to assist Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) in achieving those goals: Five Acres-Boys’ and Girls’ Aid Society of Los Angeles County; Kidsave International, Inc., the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the TIES for Families-Loss Intervention for Families in Transition; Faith-Bases Recruitment Sycamore Four Square Church; and the Permanency Partners Program. Information is provided on the overall goals of the recruitment program and the needs of older foster youth, LGBTQ foster youth, probation foster youth, and foster children and youth with deafness. Following sections review the program models, agency collaboration, sustainability of the programs, and outcomes of the programs. It concludes that although not all objectives and goals of the project were met, the Diligent Recruitment program has made a lasting impact for youth and families who otherwise would not have had those opportunities. Recommendations for future programs are made.
Keywords:
foster adolescents; foster children; children with disabilities; gays; lesbians; California; crossover youth; CHILD-SPECIFIC RECRUITMENT; interagency collaboration; promising practices; MINORITY RECRUITMENT; FOSTER FAMILIES; OUTREACH; DEAFNESS