Metis Helps EMBRACE, a Georgia Foster-family Support Organization, to Recruit and Retain Significantly More Foster Families

EMBRACE is a project of the Foster Family Foundation of Georgia, a nonprofit organization focused on increasing the number of foster families, retaining successful foster homes, and standardizing the quality of foster care in Georgia.  The brainchild of Georgia's First Lady Mary Perdue and Commissioner of the Department of Human Resources B. J. Walker, it was founded to address a severe shortage of foster homes in the state.

Data show that, over a four-year period, for every 13 foster families that are recruited, trained, and approved, there is a net gain of only one foster home.  In other words, for every 13 new approvals there are approximately 12 licensed homes that drop out - at an enormous cost to the public and to children waiting to be placed in family foster homes.  EMBRACE's goal is to counter this drop-out rate by providing the level of support that foster families need in order to stay with the program.

Metis Associates was engaged in 2006 to manage EMBRACE's implementation and planning process, including conducting needs assessments in the targeted communities.  Among the needs that Metis and its client identified were:

• Greater support for communication between foster families and foster-care agencies;
• Experienced mentoring of new foster families by more experienced ones;
• A network of helpers in the community to help foster parents in distress.

Metis has begun to seek consultants in the targeted communities to serve as liaisons between the foster parents and agencies.  It has also adapted a curriculum to train foster-parent mentors who have already been recruited to serve in this role.  In the next few weeks, experienced foster parents will begin mentoring new foster parents.  Finally, Metis has begun creating networks of helpers in the community who can help foster parents in distress.

"We've accomplished so much in a short period of time," says Stan Schneider, Metis president, adding that "our ambitious short-term goal is to retain 90% of the targeted foster homes from January to June 2008."

For more information about how Metis can assist your organization with strategic planning and evaluation, please contact Stan Schneider, President and Chief Executive Officer.