The foster care system everywhere can and should be improved. People all over the country are working to share knowledge and change things in different ways.
The single most comprehensive directory of resources that I know of is the Foster Coalition.
Casey Family Programs’ mission is to provide and improve — and ultimately prevent the need for — foster care.
CHAMPS – a national campaign to ensure bright futures for kids in foster care by promoting the highest quality parenting.
Foster Care Alumni of America (WA Chapter) committed to improving foster care through multiple means: public awareness events, social justice work, speaking with law makers and social support to members and non members alike.
Foster Club:
Foster Club engages and empowers those who have the most at stake in transforming the foster care system: young people themselves. Resources for foster youth and foster parents.
Fostering Progressive Advocacy Foundation:
A grassroots Advocacy, Activist human rights & civil rights organization started in 2008. At FPA, we are dedicated to improving foster care, education, health, and well being of communities of color by empowering them to enact social change through research, training, and community mobilization.
Fostering Change WA:
A foster parent led organization working to shift the system towards the child’s needs.
The Mockingbird Society’s mission is to transform foster care and end youth homelessness. We create, support, and advocate for racially equitable, healthy environments that develop and empower young people at risk of—or who are experiencing—foster care or homelessness to change policies and perceptions.
The National Foster Parent Association is a voice for foster, kinship, and adoptive families through networking, education, and advocacy.
Passion to Action (P2A) is a statewide youth led advisory board to Washington State’s Children’s Administration. Learn more and get involved in Passion to Action!
Project Foster Care is committed to finding families for all the foster children freed for adoption and securing mental health services for parents and children suffering the effects of being part of the system.
“We restore hope to children in foster care through innovative ideas built on meaningful relationships” – currently operating in Colorado and South Carolina, runs peer support groups for mothers and extended relatives of children in care, and educational and mentoring assistance for children.
Child Welfare Information Gateway: a comprehensive national collection of information, resources, and tools covering topics on child welfare, child abuse and neglect, out-of-home care, adoption, and more.
Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth provides a forum for Members of the US Congress to discuss and develop policy recommendations to strengthen the child welfare system and improve the overall well-being of youth and families.
Family Focused Treatment Association: a resource to agencies supporting family-based treatment for children and youth, whether that family is a kin family, a foster family, a bio family or an adoptive family.
Forever Homes: working to find an existing relative home for kids in foster care.
The Foster Coalition is a resource website for many things related to foster care. The mission is to make important information easy to find, whether you are a foster youth looking for support, a foster parent seeking a clothing closet, or a concerned person who wishes to get involved and support youth in care.
Fostering Court Improvement: A nonprofit providing software to departments and agencies to create an improved view of the system based on existing AFCARS data
Grandfamilies.org serves as a national legal resource in support of grandfamilies within and outside the child welfare system.
Kids Count, a data source on children in America, supported by Casey Family Services
Partners for our children: graphs, maps and reports showcasing information about Washington State’s child welfare system.
Project Foster is creating a private network of family support groups (FAPA) for local foster, adoptive, and kinship (both official and unofficial) families to empower local families, starting in Anaheim, CA.
WHO CARES A National Count of Foster Homes and Families – a project from the Chronicle of Social Change
Child Welfare League of America publishes multiple periodicals:
Chronicle of Social Change: an online nonprofit news publication dedicated to solution-based news coverage of child welfare, juvenile justice, mental health and educational issues faced by vulnerable children.
Foster Care Newsletter Newsletter run by New Jersey-based foster agency Embrella (formerly Foster and Adoptive Family Service
Foster Focus The nation’s only monthly magazine devoted to Foster Care.
Fostering Families – a bimonthly magazine produced by the same media nonprofit as the Chronicle for Social Change
Fostering Perspectives North Carolina fostercare magazine, published twice annually
Rise – a magazine by and for parents who have been involved with child welfare
Youth Today – a national news publication devoted to policy issues and programs affecting children and youth, especially the disadvantaged
Crosscut, an online-only news outlet covering the Northwest, regularly writes on the WA Foster Care system and related topics
