An estimated 407,000 children were in foster care in the USA (December 2020). New York City saw 7,601 children in foster care (2021).

Forestdale's "Strong Families" Foster Care program helps children/youth (ages 0-21) who've experienced abuse or neglect by a parent or caregiver. The NYC Administration contracts us for Children's Services (ACS)  to place these children in temporary, community-based, nurturing foster homes. We work to strengthen and reunite families rapidly and expertly whenever possible and, if not possible, find adoptive homes for the children. 

Forestdale helps foster youth with their personal, academic, and professional goals. The program is the central point of coordination and planning for an enrolled child's permanency plan, health and wellness, education, recreation, and other supports. Each child is designated a case planner who works with colleagues within the organization and externally to ensure that every need for a child placed in foster care is fully met. 

The program is comprised of a team of case planners, supervisors, foster/resource parents, and other professional staff who support permanency and foster care discharge. Case planners and supervisors are all in the process of or achieved in Best Practice Casework – a solution-based casework model that adheres to family law and regulations while incorporating clinically-informed practice that honors diversity, achieves equity, and addresses trauma.

A key component of Forestdale's foster care program is the Foster Parent Recruitment and Support unit. In 2017, we began our Home Away From Home (HAFH) initiative, which piloted a model developed by the Mockingbird Society. HAFH establishes intentional communities of foster homes led by an experienced foster parent offering support and guidance. Forestdale's pilot has been so successful that now ACS is expanding the use of the Mockingbird Family Model all over the city as a best practice for foster parent support.

Like all kids, children in foster care need guidance, patience, love, and understanding. The National Foster Parent Association provides an apt description of what foster care is and what it is not (National Foster Parent Association, accessed July 2022):