Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Foster Care topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Rutherford County DSS: foster care caseloads high; county joins Duke study and expands outreach
Summary
Rutherford County Department of Social Services officials reported high foster care caseloads, described local recruitment efforts and a Duke University research grant, and outlined an outreach program to boost resource/ foster parent recruitment. Staff also described supports for children and a new house to host foster families.
Rutherford County Department of Social Services officials told the board during a regular meeting that foster care caseloads remain elevated and that county staff are pursuing research and community outreach to recruit and retain resource parents.
Board members and staff said the county was selected, along with three others, to receive a Duke University grant to study recruitment and retention of foster parents. Staff described a Resource Parent Outreach Program (RPOP) and other community efforts aimed at increasing foster-home capacity and support.
The grant will fund researchers to spend time in the agency and the community to identify local barriers and potential improvements to foster-parent recruitment and retention. Staff said the study will include interviews with agency workers and current foster parents; the county did not provide a written grant award or timeline in the meeting record.
Agency staff described RPOP as an in‑community outreach effort that recognizes current foster parents and shares their experiences directly with neighbors, churches and other community groups. Staff emphasized that empirical research and local experience suggest peer-to-peer recruitment by current resource parents is more effective than outreach conducted only by agency social workers.
Board members and staff also discussed the county’s shortage of resource parents and foster homes. Staff said foster-parent recruitment is challenging for multiple reasons, including changes in child behaviors, the demands of caring for children who have experienced trauma, the lingering impact of COVID precautions and the prevalence of kinship caregivers and grandparents who are already caring for children in the county.
Staff outlined short-term and longer-term steps to expand placements: targeted recruitment events (including a park outreach event planned in May), church partnerships, promotional materials (QR code outreach) and efforts to have foster parents speak publicly about their experiences.
The board heard that private or non‑county licensed agencies sometimes accept placements at higher rates because they operate on different rate structures; county staff said such agencies are licensed through the state and can accept children from other counties, but they did not provide contract details.
Staff also described a new house the agency will open for foster families and children. Director Hunt said the house was complete and being furnished, with a ribbon cutting planned in May 2025; staff said the house is intended to give foster parents and children a home-like setting for visits and short stays, including a playground and space for family activities.
Why it matters: Foster-home shortages affect placement options and child stability; the Duke study and expanded outreach are designed to identify feasible local steps to increase recruitment and reduce placements in emergency or out-of-county settings.
Speakers quoted directly or paraphrased at the meeting included a newly sworn board member, program supervisors and the department director. Sydney Pellegrini, introduced as a new board member and a peer support specialist, said she is “very eager to be somebody that has a voice” and is “a huge advocator” (remarks given during her introduction). Other staff recounted recruitment results from recent outreach and noted the county’s efforts to involve foster parents themselves in recruitment.
