Recruitment Efforts to Support LGBTQA+ Youth

Recruitment Efforts to Support LGBTQA+ Youth

Care4All Children Services is dedicated to supporting foster care parents and youth in the State of Georgia DHS/DFCS system.  As we grow as an agency and societal changes, we work hard to recruit, train and license families who are equipped to meet the demands of those changes.  There is an increasing population of at risk and or hard-to-place youth. A large percentage of these youth identify as a part of the LGBTQA+ community. Because of homophobia, transphobia and belief systems in their homes, schools, and social settings, LGBTQ youth enter the foster care system at a disproportionate rate.

Like all young people, LGBTQ+ (including Native American Two-Spirit)1 children and youth in foster care need the support of a nurturing family to help them navigate their teenage years and grow into healthy adults.

FACTS

Youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, or other diverse identity (LGBTQ+) are overrepresented in foster care (Human Rights Campaign, 2015), with at least three studies estimating about 30 percent of youth in foster care identify as LGBTQ+ (Baams et al., 2019; Matarese et al., 2021; Sandfort, 2020).

Given this staggering number or reported and unreported LGBTQA+ youth in foster care, Care4All has implemented a recruitment campaign that will focus on the inclusion of this target population. We will looking to increase the recruitment efforts for prospective foster parents and approve 25 new foster caregiver homes who have an expressed interest and willingness to foster LGBTQA+ youth