On April 14th, Every Child Arkansas was featured on Arkansas PBS, sharing news of the foster care in Arkansas. Christie Erwin from Project Zero, one of our network partners, was in the studio answering questions. Mischa Martin from Arkansas Department of Family Services and Kristi Putnam, the Secretary of the Arkansas Department of Human Services were there virtually to talk about Every Child Arkansas.

How Every Child Arkansas streamlines the process:

This initiative was born out of our partners in Arkansas who came together to ensure that there are enough homes for children. The question was: how to recruit more foster families? How do we have a consistent message and targeted recruitment.

Every Child Arkansas streamlines the system. You go to one single website, EveryChildArkansas.org, and can connect with an organization in the network. The partner organizations on the Every Child Arkansas website support and guide those who want to become foster parents. They also have opportunities to volunteer and to give goods.

The Contingent, an Oregon nonprofit that recruits foster families for ODHS in Oregon, built this streamlined and unified model. There was tremendous success with this recruitment model with an increase of 2,000 foster family inquiries in the first year. The Contingent expanded to Arkansas, opening a branch in Little Rock to continue to support Every Child Arkansas and to build new programs that fit the specific needs of Arkansas. You can check out their website to learn more and to give to the movement.

With more than 4,000 children in foster care in Arkansas, there’s something for everyone to do to make a difference. Consider getting involved as a foster parent or as a volunteer by filling out our connect form.

You can watch the video below.