Idaho Wednesday’s Child is a specialized recruitment program committed to decreasing the number of young people who ‘age out’ of foster care.
The Family Resource and Training Center (FRTC) administers Idaho Wednesday's Child for the Department of Health and Welfare. Idaho Wednesday's Child is a child specific adoption recruitment program for children with special needs that utilizes the media, adoption websites, newscasts, newspapers, magazines and social media to meet the specilic recruitment needs of each child.
Idaho Wednesdays Child arranges photo sessions, coordinates news productions, and sends photos and profiles to national exchanges and to print media outlets as specified by each child’s individual recruitment plan. ldaho Wednesday’s Child also gathers inquiries and sends the contact information to the permanency team of each child. Families that do not have home studies are given information on how to obtain those studies and are mentored through the process.
The ldaho Wednesday’s Child recruitment coordinators attend community events where they are able to talk to folks about adoption through the foster care system, as well as the joys and challenges of adopting older children. We utilize the Heart Galiery at many of these events The Heart Gallery consists of enlarged photos of the children displayed so that the community can get a sense of the need for committed families right here in Idaho.
For a decade, FRTC has been in the community talking to folks all over Idaho about the need for foster families through our recruitment and mentoring program, Fostering Idaho. Fostering Idaho has successfully recruited and mentored many families. However, sometimes families feel that adoption is a better fit for them and want to pursue that avenue. Utilizing the Idaho Wednesday's Child program casts a wide net across the state of ldaho because of how closely we work with Fostering Idaho.
Our staff is equipped with years of experience in the field of Child Welfare and are sensitive to the needs of children from a trauma-informed perspective, while also relating to the needs of the families they work with.
Once a child's profile is on the website and other media outlets, families have the opportunity to inquire about the child. They can do so on the Waiting Child Profile page or through any of the national exchanges on which the profile is featured. This inquiry information is collected in our database. The Wednesday's Child Recruitment Coordinator will contact the family via email and send them information regarding getting a home study if one is needed. The Family’s contact information is then sent to the child’s permanency team. We work closely with social workers regarding the family’s home study progress. Our Coordinators desire to work closely with permanency teams.
