1 in 11 children in the U.S. will live in foster or kinship
care at some point before turning 18. Their outcomes are the worst of any
population.
Why?
One reason is simple economics. As a society, we invest
about half as much in a foster child as we do an average biological child, and less than a quarter in a child being raised by kin.
A second reason is that the foster care community is
fragmented and isolated from each other. There are foster children in every
community and every school. Foster caregivers might work together but don’t
know it. Because of the privacy and security needs of the children and youth in
their care, they have very limited opportunities to support and learn from each
other.
iFoster is addressing this fragmentation and isolation by
building an online community where members can come together from the privacy
and security of their own homes. In 4 years the community has grown to 30,000
members representing over 3 million children in all 50 states.
iFoster is addressing the funding gap by making sure our
members can take advantage of every resource that is available to them, and
lowering the barriers to getting the resources our members most use or most
need.
Children and youth in foster care deserve all
the same opportunities biological families provide. They deserve the same
chance to become successful, independent adults and break the cycle.