Grow With Us
Bring the Fostering Hope Model to Your City
Every community has people who care about children in foster care—and foster families who shouldn’t have to do this alone. Fostering Hope brings the two together. For nearly 20 years, we’ve equipped ordinary people to become the “aunts, uncles, and grandparents” foster families can count on for practical help and lasting relationships – and your city can be next. Whether you are a nonprofit leader, child welfare professional, faith leader, philanthropist, or an individual passionate about changing your community, we will walk you through the necessary steps to become the next Fostering Hope affiliate.
Getting Started
Finding your role in the movement
Scale your impact with a proven framework
If your organization serves children and families – or desires to do so – Fostering Hope offers a model to deepen your relational impact without reinventing the wheel.
What it looks like: Integrating our proven structure and methodology into your existing service offerings.
The goal: Establishing a sustainable, long-term support system for foster families that brings together volunteers, faith communities, and donors in a meaningful way.
What it takes: A community-based organization that is:
- Willing to work with a variety of faith communities and traditions
- Not directly contracted with the child welfare system or providing services on its behalf, but willing to work in partnership
- Privately funded or willing to fundraise
- Relationship-driven with a heart for families, even if it does not work with foster families or children today
Provide a unique and meaningful way for volunteers to live out their faith
We’re not asking your church to build or run a foster care ministry. As a ministry partner of Fostering Hope, you are inviting your people to become the community foster families shouldn’t have to live without. Volunteers with a heart for this work come to us, and we do all the rest.
What it looks like: Faith leaders present Fostering Hope to their congregations as an opportunity for volunteers to meaningfully serve foster families and live out their faith through a ministry of presence. Interested volunteers are then trained to provide both practical and emotional support to families, supported by social workers every step of the way.
The goal: To provide faith-led volunteers with a meaningful way to serve foster families with friendship, meals, rides, childcare and other support that keeps them strong and helps children to heal.
What it takes: A faith community with a desire to support foster families but a willingness to partner with a trusted organization rather than doing the work itself.
Allow Fostering Hope to provide everyday support that systems can’t
Child welfare operates in a world of scarce resources. Fostering Hope brings an abundant one: people who want to help. We recruit, train, and coordinate teams of volunteers to provide practical and relational support to the small group of foster families willing to accept the most challenging and complex placements. We do so with privately raised resources, rigorous safety protocols, and a commitment to partner with agencies.
What it looks like: Child welfare leaders and agencies invite Fostering Hope to partner with them in a common goal to practically support families, collaborating with the judicial system and partnering agencies to establish trust.
The goal: To prevent foster parent burnout, reduce placement disruptions, and contribute to a trauma-sensitive, healing home environment.
What it takes: A child welfare system willing to allow and trust a community-based organization to work closely with its children and families, knowing they are committed to safety and respectful of the system’s goals at all times.
Build a base of financial support for Fostering Hope
Fostering Hope intentionally relies on community investment to support foster families. We do not charge families or agencies for our services or rely on governmental contracts. Our success depends on philanthropists and donors who are not only willing to invest in this work, but help us build a base of support.
What it looks like: Local donors or philanthropists make the financial case to bring Fostering Hope to their communities through meetings, events, and connections.
The goal: Help Fostering Hope in your community establish sustainable local funding to provide the resources needed to provide this program to local foster families.
What it takes: People who recognize that a modest investment in this model to provide training and facilitation of volunteer teams can have extraordinary impact on children and families.
Become a champion in your community
Fostering Hope began 20 years ago as an idea, not a program. We relied on individuals who deeply cared about families to champion that idea one conversation at a time. If you believe there is need in your community and are willing to advocate for it, you can be a powerful catalyst for change.
What it looks like: A champion is someone who is willing to introduce the concept of Fostering Hope to people who may be willing to help. These may be donors, nonprofit leaders, faith leaders, or others with connections to this work.
The goal: Introduce Fostering Hope to the people in your community who can help establish it there.
What it takes: Making introductions or facilitating meetings with Fostering Hope staff and people in the community. Taking time to share about Fostering Hope with friends, networking groups, or civic organizations.
How we operate
A national mission with local roots
Fostering Hope USA serves as the national hub for our movement, providing the resources, training, and framework that empower local partners to thrive. While we are headquartered in Colorado, our goal is to build a presence in every community where foster families need support.
As we grow, we are actively looking for visionary leaders and organizations to help us bring this model to new states and cities.
How our model works
We Build Extended Families Around Foster Parents
Each foster family is surrounded by a dedicated team of 6–10 trained volunteers who walk alongside them for as long as they need—often for years. This team-based approach ensures that support is sustainable for the volunteers and life-changing for the family.
Reliable Presence
Showing Up for the Long Haul
We understand that stability is built over time. Our volunteers provide a consistent, reliable presence that foster parents can depend on, ensuring no family has to face the highs and lows of the journey alone.
Practical Support
Lightening the Load of Daily Life
Whether itˇs a retired teacher helping with math homework or a volunteer offering an extra set of hands during a busy week, we provide the tangible, practical help that makes a house feel like a home.
Relational Support
A Lifetime of Belonging
Our model is about building deep, lasting connections that extend for years. By surrounding families with a village of support, we create the safety and belonging children need to become stronger together.
What you need
Are you ready to start a partnership?
A quick checklist of some of the things you might need to consider partnering with Fostering Hope USA.
A heart for the long haul: A commitment to moving beyond service projects and tasks toward long-term, relational support.
A community network: Connections with faith communities that can serve as a base for volunteers, donors who will support the work financially, and a child welfare system willing to trust a community-based partner.
A core leadership team: Dedicated individual(s) who are ready to help coordinate and champion the mission locally.
Stable administrative roots: Access to a legal or organizational entity (like a 501c3) that can provide foundational oversight.
Missing a few of these? Let’s talk anyway. Part of our role is helping you build these foundations from the ground up. You don’t need to have all the answers. You just need to care and be willing to take the first step.
The process
What to expect
Every community has a different starting point, so every partnership follows a unique timeline. Whether you are an established organization looking to integrate our model or a group of passionate individuals building from the ground up, we customize our approach to fit your specific landscape. While the pace of growth may vary, we provide the consistent structure and support needed to ensure your chapter is built for long-term sustainability.
Initial conversation
Every partnership begins with a simple conversation to get to know your communityˇs unique needs and ensure our model is the right fit for your mission.
Foundation building
We’ll work closely with you to identify key leaders, establish your organizational home base, and prepare your community for a successful launch.
Training and launch
Our national team provides comprehensive training to our local partner’s staff and volunteers, equipping everyone with the tools and research-backed methods needed to serve.
Ongoing growth and learning
Just as Fostering Hope focuses on long-term, relational support for foster families, we use the same approach with our affiliate partners. You are never alone. You’ll have access to ongoing coaching, resource updates, and a national network of peers doing this work alongside you.
Need more information?
Bringing Fostering Hope to your community doesn’t start with a commitment. It starts with a conversation. We’d love to learn more about your community, answer your questions, and explore what this could look like where you are.
Success Stories
Lives transformed by community
Date night saved my marriage
My husband and I were so overwhelmed by fostering that we had grown apart and weren’t sure our marriage would make it. Our team provided us a date night. Secretly, I didn’t even want to go because things had gotten so bad, but we reconnected that night and are now stronger than ever.
Volunteers help with what I can’t get to.
My volunteers read stories to my children and I am so grateful. This is something I desperately wanted for them but couldn’t do on my own.
It’s about feeling seen as a foster parent.
My team takes time to ask how I’m doing. It makes me feel so loved and seen
Prepared meals relieve a huge burden.
When my daughter experienced a severe mental health crisis, my team provided 14 meals in a row! This made all the difference in attending to her needs while supporting the rest of our family.
Why Fostering Hope
Frequently asked questions
What does Fostering Hope USA provide to local partners?
You’re not handed a manual and left to figure it out. Fostering Hope USA provides the model, training, tools, implementation guidance, data systems, and ongoing coaching needed to launch and operate with fidelity. We also support organizational development, fundraising, community partnerships, and the challenges that emerge as your affiliate grows.
How long will it take to launch Fostering Hope in my community?
Every community moves at its own pace depending on existing resources and leadership availability. Conservatively, the process from discovery to launch takes six months, but it may take a year or more depending on each community’s circumstances. The timeline is driven by milestones, not the calendar, ensuring your team is properly trained and your organizational foundation is secure before you begin serving families.
How much does it cost to start a Fostering Hope affiliate?
Fostering Hope USA does not charge affiliate partners a fee for our services, but partners are responsible for funding their local operations. Startup costs vary significantly by community, with staffing and insurance among the primary expenses. An established organization with existing infrastructure may be able to implement the model for approximately $50,000, while a new organization may require substantially more. We’ll help each prospective partner develop a realistic budget, fundraising strategy, and path to launch.
How does Fostering Hope compare to other foster family support models or organizations?
Around the country, many organizations are doing important and effective work to support foster families, including Promise686, Rise Families, and National Angels, to name a few. Fostering Hope uses a distinct, staff-led, long-term team model designed to create stability, enrichment, and connection for foster families and young people over time. Professional staff guide and support each team throughout the relationship, helping turn the community’s desire to help into consistent, sustainable support for families.
Will a local nonprofit need to adopt the Fostering Hope name and brand?
Fostering Hope offers a flexible approach to branding designed around what works best for your community. For existing organizations, that doesn’t necessarily mean giving up the identity you’ve already built. We’ll work with you to determine how the Fostering Hope brand fits within your organization while maintaining the consistency needed across the national network.
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