Fostering Hope fills gaps that the child welfare system is not designed to address, and in doing so, we are changing outcomes for foster families and kids emancipating from foster care. A recent independent study found that for every $1 spent on our program, $3 is returned to the community.
"I feel like I'm just incredibly lucky really. I feel like things have just all fallen in place for my favor, you know, 'cause if I didn't have people in my life that I have right now, I probably wouldn't have got anywhere. If it wasn't for people like Brian [coordinator] and my foster mom, I would have gave up a long time ago, you know?" - Young adult aging out of foster care
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"The paycheck is seeing them walk off with their heads held high, knowing somebody loves them."
- Suni, foster mom
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"You will [never] understand completely how much you and your team have touched our lives and the lives of the kids in our home. We are so proud to be on the receiving end of your wonderful organization." - Philip, Melinda, and Khiara
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"I am now entering the next phase of my life, and I couldn't have done it without you. I still have a long road ahead of me, but thank you for helping me get across the rough terrain."
Z., an 18-year-old child of foster care who will soon be entering adulthood and living independently.
Fostering Hope is an enduring community of affirmation and support for foster families,
restoring the sense of family and belonging that foster children need to thrive. We exist so
that:
-foster parents can be at their best,
-children who have experienced the trauma of abuse and neglect can heal, and
-young adults can become the productive citizens they were meant to be.
We believe in the primacy of relationships and the power of unconditional love. Through
the loving service of our staff, volunteers, and donors we help foster parents
-stabilize the home environment,
-enrich the life experience of the children, and
-connect them to the larger community as they grow into adulthood.
Fostering Hope launched in Colorado Springs in 2006 to apply existing and emerging social and neuroscience (trauma-informed care*) to the practice of foster parenting in an attempt to improve the foster family experience and change the abysmal trajectory of youth transitioning out of foster care. We started with two teams supporting two families. Today, we serve dozens of families as well as 30 youth who are "aging out" of foster care as young adults.
*Trauma-informed care (TI-care) is a science-based approach to helping children heal from chronic or severe maltreatment and the harmful effects of toxic stress. By focusing on healing through safe, stable, nurturing and enduring relationships and meaningful experiences, TI-care seeks to restore self-worth, trust in others, manage emotions and impulses, and develop executive brain function.
Our model was based on the idea, rooted in feedback from foster parents and foster youth, that with the right approach the community could step in to provide stability, enrichment and enduring relationships with nurturing adults typically found with one's own family. In doing so, it would allow a child to regain trust and confidence lost after abuse and neglect, which is a precursor to success in school, the workforce and independent living. It would also help retain foster parents who would have quit without support and contributed to a critical shortage of such parents in El Paso County. Without these foster parents, children who cannot live at home would typically enter residential treatment level of care.
In 2018, Fostering Hope publicized for the first time, our long-term outcomes for youth emancipating from foster care who had the benefit of FH support in that foster home - and the results validate the effectiveness of our approach. We are pleased to share that 100% of youth in FH supported foster homes have graduated or attained a GED, compared to just 35% of emancipated foster youth nationally. Almost all of our FH youth are working, while the opposite holds true nationally. Currently, 35% of our FH youth are enrolled in college or have recently graduated, compared to less than 10% nationally by most estimates. While as many as 50% of foster youth experience homelessness within 2 years of emancipation, just two individuals out of 14 (16%) of FH youth have experienced homelessness. In the last year, these statistics prompted the El Paso County Department of Human Services to turn to Fostering Hope for guidance with regards to implementing trauma-sensitive care into the foster care environment.
Our long-term outcomes confirm that trauma-informed environments in foster home settings, coupled with safe, structured, enriched habitats filled with loving caretakers who create opportunities for the development of healthy relationships, community connections and ongoing support after foster care, can reverse the typical dismal outcomes experienced by foster youth.
Foster parents, former and current foster youth, and child welfare caseworkers have all been integrally involved in the development of the FH program which is structured around a parental model based on the concept of an extended family that supports the foster parents and foster youth, and stands in place of the foster child's absent birth family, with an added focus on healing, safety and the well-being of traumatized foster children.
This "extended family" supports the foster parents, who are well-intentioned and good-hearted but often overwhelmed, with those little things that make life so stressful, chaotic and energy draining in a multi-child family. These include transportation, grocery shopping, respite time, school shopping, etc., so the foster parents have the quality time and energy to invest in their foster children and become attuned to their needs.
Fostering Hope's fundamental work is to bring the child to again trust, and then build the trusting relationships needed to integrate successfully with our community as young adults. As the children mature, our program follows them to provide the support and assistance they need, as they need it. With foster parent input, the trust developed in the foster home is leveraged towards external relationship building that allows for success in school, college and the workplace.
Organization name
Fostering Hope Foundation
2008
Tax id (EIN)
26-1991807
Category
Human Services
Organization Size
Medium Organization
Address
111 S. Tejon Street Suite 112El Paso County, CO, US
Other
719-634-8588
Other
719-200-5293