DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN
SERVICES
ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
Administration on Children, Youth and Families
330 C Street, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20201
EXEMPLARY TITLE IV-B RECRUITMENT PLAN ELEMENTS
States are to provide for the diligent recruitment of potential foster and adoptive families that reflect the ethnic and racial diversity of children in the state for whom foster and adoptive homes are needed. Both general and targeted recruitment should be used. When using targeted recruitment a State must insure that the children being recruited for are also included in the State's general recruitment activities.
An adequate recruitment process has a number of features. Recruitment efforts should be designed to provide to potential foster and adoptive parents throughout the community information about the characteristics and needs of the available children, the nature of the foster care and adoption processes, and the supports available to foster and adoptive families.
To help States to meet MEPA's diligent efforts requirements, the following examples of Recruitment Plan features are offered for State consideration:
RECRUITMENT PLAN ELEMENTS
Characteristics of the waiting children should be clearly described,including:
- age
- gender
- membership in a sibling group
- culture and ethnicity
- special developmental, behavioral or medical needs
- child's attitudes, habits, and daily routines
Recruitment strategies could include but not be limited to the following recruitment methods:
- decals
- bus and taxi cab placards
- slogans or themes on bookmarks, pencils, balloons, key chains, rain hats, t-shirts, etc.
- displays in store windows and libraries
- information booths at meetings or gatherings
- placemats in restaurants
- flyers, handouts, and bill inserts
- notices in congregational and community bulletins
- calendars
- newsletters
- special events, carnivals or fairs
- picnics and ice cream socials
- theme night activities
- puppet shows
- speakers' bureau, scheduling presentations
- awards programs
- appreciation nights and banquets
- welcome wagon packets
- teas, drop-ins, or open houses
- door to door canvassing
- surveys in shopping malls
- television and newspaper feature stories
- television public service announcements or community interest stories
- interview programs
- radio spot announcements
- direct mailing and ad coupons
- display ads in the phone book
- recruitment films
- messages on business marquees
- adoption day in court
- adoptive mother and father of the year
Methods of disseminating both general and targeted recruitment information should utilize mass media and printed materials. Public service announcements, talk shows and news programs should be utilized to illuminate the needs and provide foster children with visibility and delineate their unique characteristics.
Efforts could be undertaken to develop ongoing newspaper columns concerning the plight of children and the need for adoptive and foster families. This should include both major dailies and local weeklies. Ongoing columns have been effective because of their predictability.
Work with reporters and editors to stimulate relevant news and feature articles. Press releases could be prepared and disseminated to weeklies, neighborhood newspapers, trade papers, employee magazines, and the newsletters of unions, clubs, fraternities, sororities, and churches.
Posters, flyers and brochures could be developed for distribution throughout communities. They could be distributed through churches, clubs and other organizations and to doctors' offices, hospital and clinic waiting rooms, libraries, beauty parlors, barber shops, laundromats, community centers, etc.
Agencies could consider decentralizing services so that prospective parents may have physical access to the agency. Agency procedures and practice should be congruent with the cultural and social values of the target population. Adoption agencies should have hours of service that facilitate access by all members of the community.
Agencies should have a fee structure that is non-discriminatory. It should allow families of various income levels the opportunity to adopt. Fees should be charged according to a sliding scale, based on a family's ability to pay. The ability to pay a fee should not influence the choice of the most appropriate family for a child.
Attachments:
Attachment
A: Statute and Conference Report
Attachment B: List of
Regional Administrators, ACF
Attachment D: Necessary
Components of Effective Foster Care and Adoption Recruitment
Attachment E: ABA
Monograph on the Multiethnic Placement Act
Some of the attachments to the Monograph are also available, they are named Attachment F and Attachment G
