Thursday, February 10, 2011

Move Over "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"

My apologies for being vacant for so long.  I've been reading, but not in the mood to type - perhaps because that would mean putting down my book...ahh, the Catch 22!

Today's post is thanks to Time Magazine, but I'm a bit behind in reading them, so it's from the January 10, 2011 copy.  Page 50-54, home of one of the most innovative and inspiring things I've read.  A program in St. Louis is completely changing the way foster care is run.  Instead of simply placing children with absolutely anyone who is willing to take them in, this program ("Extreme Recruitment") has hired detectives to find any and all family members of children in the system.  Then they go door-to-door to those relatives until they find someone willing to take in the child.  A minimum of 40 relatives for each child, and a 70% success rate.  To top it off, the children are moved out of foster care much faster than through the traditional system, and significantly more likely to be adopted.  The program has found that it's all about making a connection (the "Monkey Sphere" for those of you who are familiar with the concept).

It's possible that this article is part of what has me so into Pictures of Hollis Woods -- it's all about wanting to belong.

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