Today in the United States, there are more children in the foster care system than there are homes ready to foster. However, there are plenty of people in the United States who could and very likely would welcome a child in foster care into their home. The challenge in front of child and family welfare advocates is to find those families and match them with the children in foster care.
“We know that kids and families and case workers on the ground need help,” says Ben Sand.
Sand, executive director of The Contingent, is up for the task — and he’s revolutionizing how new foster homes are identified.
The Contingent is a venture nonprofit that uses laser-focused recruiting to ensure every child has the care they need. Its proven model, Every Child, uses data, technology, and real-time commitment to evaluating results to target and engage prospective foster families (and volunteers) whose profiles match the current needs in a jurisdiction’s foster system.
Sand detailed the approach in a recent TEDx Talk:
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“We’ve created a gap analysis tool,” Sand said, “that’s designed to try to understand the current kids in foster care and their defining characteristics. We then look at the inventory of available foster homes and identify the gap for the ideal placements that we need to recruit to ensure that every child has a safe and loving home.”
Successful implementation of The Contingent’s technology results in more ideal placements than previously established ground game efforts. Consider the outcomes from its implementation in Arkansas, Indiana, Oregon, and Tennessee, where collectively, 77% of all leads are coming from this data-driven approach.
It's an ingenious idea that just makes sense. Data is used all the time to find the right audiences for products, events, and causes around the world. It’s past time that those interested in child and family well-being leverage the best tools to get every child the care they need.
“Nonprofit programs do not change lives,” Sand emphasized. “Only, and I mean only, relationships do that.”
The Contingent is supported by Stand Together Trust, which provides funding and strategic capabilities to innovators, scholars, and social entrepreneurs to develop new and better ways to tackle America’s biggest problems.
Learn more about Stand Together's efforts to build strong and safe communities and explore ways you can partner with us.
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