Utah Foster Care Foundation
Utah Foster Care Foundation (UFCF) is a non-profit organization that provides foster families for the State of Utah. Since their founding, UFCF has played a role in caring for young children who have been subjected to abuse, neglect, and other hardships by their caretakers. Their primary responsibilities include the recruitment, training, and retention of foster providers within Utah as dictated by a contractual agreement with the Department Of Child and Family Services. Below is described six general attributes of UFCF. They include their mission and goals, history, organizational structure, program relationships, budget, and challenges.
Mission and Goals
The mission of the Utah Foster Care Foundation is three-fold. As specified in their recruitment efforts, “Our mission is to serve Utah’s children by finding, educating and nurturing families to meet the needs of children in foster care.” In general, UFCF’s company goal is to provide children with quality homes in areas where they are most needed. They do this through a highly selective process in which they carefully screen potential foster parents, provide extensive training, and maintain continued support for providers as they care for these children. During this process, their objective is to identify providers that are willing to help families reunite when possible and adopt children when such a reunion is not achievable.
Specific goals are provided through a contractual agreement with the Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS), a state agency related to Health and Human Services. For example, the state set a goal for UFCF through DCFS to recruit and train 450 new foster families in 2011. In addition to their contracted goal, they also seek to promote privately raised donations. This extra funding provides a support system that includes support groups, camps, winter retreats, appreciation events, and their wishing well program (e.g., provides gifts like a baseball glove or dance lesson that providers can’t afford independently).
History
Like many other programs, the Utah Foster Care Foundation originated because of a problem that needed resolved. In 1993 the State of Utah was sued by the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL) for failure to protect children. Children in DCFS care were being neglected because there were an insufficient number of qualified foster providers. Despite the need for improvement and five years to make the necessary changes, DCFS was still not in compliance with the lawsuit requirements. DCFS lacked effective training and recruiting methods.
In an effort to rectify this problem, Governor Mike Leavitt appointed a private citizen, Richard Shipley, to organize a nonprofit 501(C)3, called the Utah Foster Care Foundation. Since its inception in 1999, UFCF has been able to successfully address these deficiencies. With the organization of UFCF, four major changes were implemented to improve the quality of training and selection within the foster care program.
1. UFCF conducts an in home pre-screening for potential foster parents. By doing so, they are able to quickly discern qualified parents and ensure the safety of the foster children before further training.
2. Training hours were increased from 20 to 32 hours and with re-certification required each year. In addition, both husband and wife have to attend a portion of these meetings.
3. Training was made consistent throughout the state. Successful recruiting and training activities were implemented throughout the state along with uniform qualifications.
4. The selection of foster parents is closely tied to the needs of the children. Instead of mass generalized marketing recruitment, UFCF employs specific targeted recruitment based on the needs of those it their care. Placement now takes into consideration cultural background, geography, and special needs.
Through these changes, the recruitment and retention of foster parents has significantly improved. Families have more meaningful experiences and children are placed with foster parents who serve their needs best.
Organizational Structure
Similar to other non-profit entities, Utah Foster Care Foundation is led by a board of directors and CEO. With the help of 32 full-time employees, they oversee all recruitment, training, and retention activities. In total, seven individuals report directly to the CEO. They include an Accountant, Media Specialist, Development Coordinator, HR Manager, and Directors over the three departments.
Within the state, UFCF has created five regions: North, East, West, Salt Lake Valley, and Southwest. These regions are each represented within the three departments of the organization. These positions include area representatives, recruiters, regional trainers, and retention specialists who play a valuable supportive role for each Director as they oversee their respective responsibilities.
The service provided by UFCF is best understood by looking at the track followed by foster care providers in order to receive a child in their home. The process to become a foster care parent entails the following six steps:
1. In anticipation of the need for foster providers, DCFS contracts with UFCF to recruit and train a specific number of potential foster care providers each year. Recruitment activities consist of marketing, educating, and providing initial screenings for interested parties.
2. Once UFCF has recruited potential providers, they inform DCFS of these individuals.
3. While the potential foster parent continues their training, a DCFS caseworker opens a file and begins the process of certification with the Office of Licensing (OL).
4. Once the foster care provider has completed the required training and satisfied all other requirements, the OL issues a license to the foster parent.
5. DCFS reviews qualified foster parents with the needs of the children in the program.
6. Once a foster child in placed in the home of an approved provider, UFCF re-enters the process to provide important resources for foster parents as they care for the needs of these children.
Program Relationships
Concerning the relationship UFCF has with other organizations, it is important to note that they function rather independently. However, their efforts are significantly impacted by the contract requirements provided by DCFS. As a state agency, DCFS provides these guidelines in accordance with Utah legislation. Consequently, federal and state laws only indirectly affect UFCF through their contractual relationship with DCFS. UFCF deals only with the recruiting, training, and retention of qualified providers. They are not involved in the licensing of foster care providers or the placement of children in foster homes. We should, however, understand the track followed by foster children as they move through the foster program. This track includes the following four steps:
1. DCFS is notified of potential child abuse and neglect.
2. DCFS investigates the problem to identify the validity of the reported abuse.
3. If necessary, DCFS removes the child from their home.
4. These children are placed in a licensed foster care home as determined by DCFS caseworkers.
In addition, we should also note the important role Utah Foster/Adoptive Families Association (UFAFA) has within the foster care arena. As a non-profit organization, UFAFA consists of a collective body of foster/adoptive families that provides information for UFCF and other foster providers as they work to educate local and state leaders about issues confronting foster care in Utah.
Budget
Though UFCF relies upon several forms of funding, they are primarily dependent upon a contract with DCFS. This state contract accounted for nearly $2.72 million in 2011. Since 1999, the State of Utah has contracted with UFCF through DCFS to recruit and provide training for foster parents. It is an exclusive five year contract in which DCFS can make annual amendments to the financial support they provide and the consequent number of foster homes they hire UFCF to supply. Unfortunately, both in 2010 and 2011 their contracted revenue with DCFS was reduced by 3.5 percent and 3 percent respectively. However, the economy has since stabilized, resulting in steady income over the last three years.
Fundraising is the next substantial source of revenue. Contributions accounted for about 17 percent of their total budget in 2011. The remaining sources of income included net unrealized gains, interest, and other income. With this revenue, UFCF trained 517 foster families and 183 kinship families during fiscal year 2011. With these additional families, there are over 1,400 trained families in the Utah foster care program. These families care for more than 2,600 children on any given day.
Though UFCF has an annual budget around $3.5 million, their activities easily consume those funds. According to their 2011 annual report, recruitment activities accounted for nearly 40 percent of their budget. Other expenditures including retention, education, support, and fundraising.
Challenges
UFCF has five major challenges. The first is caused by budget cuts in the state. Over the last few years, these budget reductions have significantly affected the contracted revenue that DCFS has chosen to give UFCF. As a result, UFCF has been strained in their ability to recruit and train providers. These funding restraints also limited the financial compensation received by foster parents, thus hindering long term retention.
The second challenge concerns their current relationship with DCFS. Up until now, UFCF has a sole-source contract to recruit and train foster care providers within the state of Utah. However, a recent audit with DCFS noted this exclusive relationship and suggested that the state provide a bidding process for future contracts. This competition may undermine the financial stability of UFCF in the future.
The third challenge relates to the recruitment of providers for special groups such as teens and siblings. Though extensive effort has been exerted to overcome this challenge, it continues to be extremely difficult to resolve.
The fourth challenge entails their inability to sort and analyze the abundance of data available throughout the state. Their lack of manpower has kept recruiters from being as effective as they might be. A data analyst and IT employee would help manage this continual flow of data.
Lastly, the growing number of children with major behavioral problems in the program is increasing. This increase makes it very difficult for UFCF to find foster providers who are willing and able to deal with these types of children.