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Over the past 18 months, DCYF has made significant changes to how we recruit and retain licensed foster parents and kinship caregivers. Today, DCYF is proud to announce a new campaign: Be the Way Home.
When looking at recruitment messaging, it needed to reinforce that permanency comes in various forms, and caregivers are part of that journey. Be the Way Home recognizes that caregivers provide an actual home for children in need while at the same time honoring that caregivers are instrumental in the outcomes for children in out-of-home care. Caregivers are at the heart of helping children find their way home, wherever that may end up being.
Through a collaborative process that included feedback from both internal and external groups – including parent and caregiver representatives, as well as a couple of providers – DCYF landed on messaging that embraces the following concepts:
Reunification is the first and primary goal for children who experience out-of-home care.
There is a need for quality, diverse caregivers able to meet a child’s short- or long-term needs.
Caregivers, both licensed foster and kinship, are a valuable resource to parents and our agency as a whole.
Caregivers are essential in helping children stay connected to parents, siblings, kin, and community.
DCYF aims to recruit and retain caregivers who can provide a safe, loving, and temporary home and who are ready to walk alongside and champion parents who are transforming their lives in an effort to reunify with their children.
Our newly developed campaign icon symbolizes these concepts with a pathway leading to the heart, enveloped by the home itself. Look out for this icon on program materials.
If you have any questions or comments, contact DCYF’s Caregiver Recruitment and Retention Program Supervisor Codie Veitenheimer at [email protected] or 360-701-9100.