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Every Child Arkansas outlines statewide campaign to recruit and retain foster and adoptive families
Summary
Dr. Philip Goad told the Senate Children and Youth Committee that Every Child Arkansas will combine local 'ground game' partners and an Oregon 'air game' media campaign to recruit, train and support foster and adoptive families across every county, aiming to boost retention and reunification.
Dr. Philip Goad, a member of Every Child Arkansas’s executive leadership council, told the Senate Children and Youth Committee that the new statewide effort aims to close foster‑care capacity gaps by coordinating churches, nonprofits, placement agencies and government partners.
"There’s not enough support, there’s not enough resources," Goad said, summarizing the state’s challenges. He described Every Child Arkansas as a collective‑impact network that brings a unifying vision, shared measurement and backbone support to coordinate recruitment, family finding and wraparound services.
Goad said the initiative will pair local organizations he labeled the "ground game" with an "air game" run by a partner firm (the Contingent) to run targeted digital ads, a VIP intake experience and an 800 number to convert interest into licensed foster and adoptive homes. He named technology partners the initiative is exploring—Care Portal for tangible needs referrals, Connect Our Kids for family‑finding, Chosen for telebehavioral health and Hope Arc for case management.
He gave preliminary targets including raising foster‑family retention from roughly 40% to 75% and improving reunification above the cited 43% rate for children who return home. Goad said the project has national partners and private donors and that the state is participating; he asked legislators to help identify public funding sources and local foundations to support expansion.
Goad noted a recent fundraising event that raised about $450,000 for foster‑care work and provided contact information (phil.goad@cafo.org) and a planned EveryChildArkansas.org website at launch. He said the group will report progress to the legislature and pledged transparency and accountability.
Next steps described to the committee include a February public launch of digital recruitment and additional coordination with DCFS and local organizations to handle referrals and licensing.
