My View: Digital methods impact foster care

Oregon is also innovative. I’m part of a program called Every Child, which has transformed Oregon by digitizing the recruitment of foster families — also called resource families. And Every Child has developed a model that all social innovators can learn from — bringing high-tech solutions to a community need.

The need we focus on is recruiting foster parents. The analog system of recruiting foster parents was not working. In 2015, the system generated only 139 inquiries in Oregon. In 2022, Every Child Oregon garnered more than 2,000 inquiries.

These numbers stand in opposition to the national trend: While most states experienced a decline, Oregon had record inquiries.

This is a model that can work in other states and other social sectors. The idea came about when the leader of my organization — Ben Sand of The Contingent — read an article in The Atlantic about national political parties leveraging powerful marketing technology to recruit voters and donors. He thought: Why does the nonprofit sector not do this to scale up community solutions? Foster parent recruitment rose to the top of the list.

Every Child Oregon’s foster parent recruitment became so successful that other states noticed. This week, we launched Every Child in Arkansas, and later this year, we will launch in Indiana. We have received inquiries from a dozen other states, as well.

As a former foster parent and strong proponent of community solutions, I’m proud of the Every Child model. The results speak to the power of pairing digital strategies with community-based efforts, which is something others in the nonprofit space can learn from.

The magic happens when digital methods reach people who care about helping children in foster care, and then we provide laddered ways for them to engage. Everyone has something to bring to the table for kids and families impacted by foster care.

Through Every Child, individuals can donate goods, volunteer time, provide transportation or become a short-term or long-term foster parent.

Recruiting more families is not the only goal. Every Child works hard to support and sustain the individuals who sign up as foster parents, and we work valiantly to recruit families from diverse communities and geographies.

We work with the state of Oregon to find out who needs care and where, and we reach out to culturally responsive adults in those neighborhoods. This helps identify homes near a child’s existing friends, family and school that are also culturally relevant.

Engaging communities of color is crucial to success.

As a proud Oregonian, I am excited about the radical generosity Oregonians have shown one another in caring for children in innovative and collaborative ways.

We plan to bring the toolkit that’s been built, tested and effective in Oregon to other states — and we want all Oregonians to think what is possible when we think outside the box. We need creative thinkers, software engineers, funders, business minds and others to bring new and innovative ideas to the table that benefit our communities.