The Foster Care Strategy Hub

In 2022, over 30 local and national foster care leaders from across the US came together at a gathering hosted by Saddleback Church and identified the most necessary things for any community to put in place to reach more than enough for children and families in foster care. With input from these leaders, the More Than Enough Support Team worked together to refine that list into the nine main categories of the Foster Care Strategy Hub.

The nine categories represent key programmatic areas related to foster care in your community. We believe that for each of those nine pieces, there are essential elements that should be present:

• On-Ramps and Tools for Church Communities to create and implement the essential functions of serving children and families.
• Accessible Education and Training resources to equip others well.
• Trauma-Informed Care as a key ingredient of practice, programs, and products.
• Evidence-Based or Experience-Based Practice to inform programming decisions.
• Operational Infrastructure in the areas of church engagement, communications, data and technology, fundraising, and network health to support long-term growth.

As an important step in identifying and launching a new program, we encourage you to evaluate whether the same thing is already being done effectively within your community. Holding listening conversations with a variety of church ministry staff, organization leaders, agency employees, families, and local advocates in your area can be a beneficial way to determine what strategy would actually make the biggest difference for children and families in foster care in your community.

If you and others in your community want structured support for this listening and assessment process, check out our Discovering Your Community offering.

The Foster Care Strategy Hub includes two types of strategies your community can implement: 

“Programs” can be launched by a local community via partnership, subscription, franchising, or other implementation structure from a national organization.

 “Models” are examples of effective work by an organization that does not have a formalized or national implementation structure, but does offer a detailed model with principles that can be replicated in your community.

No, not all organizations whose programs or models are listed on the Foster Care Strategy Hub are CAFO members. Organizations who are CAFO members are indicated in the program or model descriptions. CAFO members have affirmed the CAFO Statement of Faith, Guiding Principles, and Core Commitments.

We highlight programs and models that have been evaluated based on the following categories: Achieves Better Results for Children and Families, Promotes Collaboration, Engages Churches, and Offers an Accessible Path to Implementation. To learn more about the specific criteria associated with these categories, click here to view the Program Submission Form.

To submit a request to add your organization’s program or model, click here to complete the Program Submission Form. The More than Enough Support Team will review your submission and will contact you to follow up.