PORTLAND, Ore. — Every Child is taking their modern digital marketing approach of foster family recruitment and support to other states. The Oregon non-profit has seen massive growth and success in the state. Now, the organization is expanding to Arkansas and Indiana to support child welfare there.
“Showing up is really all they need,” foster mom Holly Hampton said.
Hampton has been showing up for kids and teens in foster care for the past four and a half years. She opened up her Clackamas County home, focusing on teen and preteen girls.
“Some kids are long-term and have been here for years. Other kids might need me just for a night or a weekend,” she said.
Before that, though, she had never thought about fostering. That started to change after her daughter’s friend lost her mom.
“She showed up at our door after her mom’s funeral and she just never left,” Hampton said. “She grew up in my house for about six years and when she left, she said, ‘I don’t think you’re done being a mom yet and I think you should look into foster care.’”
Since then, about 40 teens and kids have come through her home, but it didn’t happen overnight.
“When I started googling what foster care was, I found Every Child,” she said. “And that’s how I got connected, learned more about it, and ultimately, how I started.”
Every Child is an initiative — mobilizing the community to uplift children and families impacted by foster care in Oregon. Designed in 2013, Every Child has seen huge growth by inviting community members into a relationship with Oregon’s Department of Human Services.
Ben Sand is the CEO of The Contingent, the parent non-profit to Every Child.
“We've tried to bust up this idea that community members are either forced with — be a foster parent, or do nothing,” Sand said. “Every Child was designed to build a continuum of engagement, to reintroduce thousands of community members back into what it looks like to care for children and families in their neighborhood.”
Every Child Oregon uses modern digital marketing and tech to recruit and retain foster families and provide support. They create and post digital ads to encourage the community with opportunities to help.
Those opportunities can be as simple as donating goods to foster children and families. Many people choose to volunteer to fill or drop off what they call flash boxes: boxes filled with anything from necessities like clothes to toys and gift cards for fun family activities. It all depends on a family or child’s needs.
“My kids that go to college get what’s called a launch box. It’s like toiletries, cleaning supplies, things for them to set up their college dorm,” Hampton said.
“What we know is that the foster care system in our country is overwhelmed with need. These are very complex situations, and the antidote is healthy families and individuals and adults that are stepping forward and partnering with jurisdictions,” Sand said.
Every Child has seen measured success. Over the last three years, inquiries from potential foster parents in most states have declined. Yet Oregon has received a record number, from 139 in 2015 to over 2000 a year in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Now, Every Child is expanding to other states, launching in Arkansas and Indiana.
“If you show me a child welfare leader in any state in our country, I will show you, someone that is asking for help,” Sand said.
It's recruitment and support, Hampton says has the power to make a positive impact on generations to come.
“They need someone that cares about them, someone who is going to be there to care about them when they had a rough day at school, or they’re having an emotional time where they just got done with court with their parents,” Hampton said. “So, just needing that soft place to land that’s safe and warm and caring.”