The high cost of foster parent turnover

$6,000 is the average cost it takes to recruit, license and train two foster parents.  (That figure includes agency costs and the state's allocation for recruiting, licensing and training.)

Then they quit in less than a year and the time, effort and money you spent licensing and training them walks out the door.

And the process repeats.

Again. 

And again.

And again.

It's time to try something different.

Most agencies address foster parent turnover primarily by frantically trying to recruit more foster parents.  Research proves that's the wrong approach.  Instead, it's much more effective to address the reasons your foster parents quit in the first place.  

Why are foster parents quitting?

Research by the National Foster Parent Association suggests that 40 percent of foster families quit because of inadequate agency support.   Other primary turnover drivers include:

• poor communication by the agency or caseworker
• lack of training
• struggles dealing with stress
• difficulty processing grief and loss

How can FosterCare.Team help?

We provide a simple to use, yet powerful solution that addresses all of these primary foster parent turnover drivers.  We...

1. fix poor communication:  Our secure, online collaboration software improves communication between all members of a foster care team.  Our modules for journaling, child behavior tracking, discussion forums, file management, and much more improve the quantity, quality and context of every discussion your foster care teams have.  Collaboration software has been proven to increase transparency and lead to faster, more effective and accurate problem-solving.  
2. address struggles with stress and dealing with grief and loss:  Journaling is the primary tool recommended by therapists for clients who are struggling with stress, grief, and loss.  It’s also a key tool to help caseworkers and counselors assess the challenges and stressors in the foster home.  Our journaling module is so easy to use, your foster parents will dictate journal entries using their phone in seconds.
3. boost training:  A training module that facilitates easy dissemination of resources, videos and other training materials to all your agency’s foster parents, so they can access them as they have time and re-access them as needed, is cost saving, effective and efficient. 
4. improve agency support:  Data-driven alerts help focus attention where it’s needed most and shortens the window of time between issue identification and issue resolution.  Also, the agency dashboard provides insights into all of your agency's foster homes, foster parents and foster children, highlighting which ones are in the greatest need for support and intervention.
    

Is it expensive?

Not compared to the cost of the foster parents who are quitting your agency every year.  And the cost that is hardest to quantify is the cost to your foster children, as they have to be placed in yet another foster home.

Imagine if you were able to break this cycle.  Imagine if you were able to reduce your foster parent turnover, and increase support for your foster parents and foster children at the same time.  Imagine how much better your agency would run using a platform that utilizes communication and collaboration to tackle foster parent turnover and address all of the primary turnover drivers.  

To answer your question directly, the cost is $600 per private agency per year.  (Public agencies are priced differently.)  All others users are free. If a single foster family is retained anytime within the next decade, the agency's license cost has been covered for that decade. Any additional retentions over the next decade are positive returns for your agency and foster children.

FosterCare.Team can be a GAME CHANGER for your agency.  

It gets even better.

Research has repeatedly proven one indisputable fact: The most effective asset for recruiting new foster parents is existing foster parents.  We can show you that the most effective asset for supporting and retaining existing foster parents is FosterCare.Team.

With FosterCare.Team you get:

• Improved foster parent support 
• Efficient foster care team communication and collaboration
• Higher quality of care for foster children
• Happier, less stressed foster parents whom you are more likely to retain than lose
• A powerful and efficient asset to help you recruit new foster parents

How about caseworker turnover?

We're glad you asked.  Caseworkers often quit because they feel overwhelmed.  They feel like all they do is put out fires and manage paperwork when what they really want to do is social work.  Our platform simplifies communication while it organizes tasks and documents, allowing caseworkers to focus what they love: social work.  

What’s that worth?  The National Child Welfare Workforce Institute shows the cost of replacing a caseworker when totaling the overtime paid while a position is open and expenses for recruiting, hiring and training a new caseworker is at $54,000.  If your agency can retain just a single caseworker, that act of retention covers the cost of an agency license for 90 years.  We think that's a pretty good ROI.

Ready to get your agency on board?

Become part of the FosterCare.Team collaboration platform, give your agency all of these advantages and learn why multiple states are exploring ways to implement FosterCare.Team across all of their foster care agencies.  You'll find our pricing is simple and flexible.  

Sign me up! I like that ROI!

Still have questions?

Chat with us using the icon in the bottom right corner of your screen.  (If it's visible, we're online ready to chat.)  Or, learn even more about what we can do for agencies and foster parents.  You can also view FosterCare.Team in action from our tutorials page.

I'd like to see a demo