The Institute for Child Welfare Innovation (the Institute) is a program of the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition that offers training and replication services for child welfare professionals across the country. Since inception, the Institute has trained more than 5,023 professionals in family finding throughout 35 U.S. states and parts of Canada.
Bethany Christian Services, located in Kent County, Michigan, is just one of these locations. One of their biggest challenges was relative placement: the placement of a child impacted by foster care in the home of a relative or someone with whom they have a kinship connection.
In 2021, only 26 percent of children entering foster care in Kent County were placed with relatives, compared to the national average of 35 percent. Bethany Christian Services knew that something had to change.
They reached out to the Institute to explore replicating the Coalition’s 30 Days to Family® program in Kent County, a process that involved diligent family search and engagement training.
30 Days to Family® is a nationally recognized and evidence-informed model created by the Coalition which has been rated both by the California Clearinghouse for Evidence-Based Practices and the federal Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse.
Over 100 studies involving more than 660,000 children show that youth placed with relatives or kin have better self-esteem, education, mental health and sense of belonging. This was exactly the kind of change Kent County so desperately needed.
Several staff members from Bethany Christian Services began collaborating with the Institute, gaining skills to engage families and learning creative methods for finding family. Over the next year, the Institute provided ongoing support through case coaching calls. Bethany Christian Services has now fully adopted the 30 Days to Family® Replication Model.
“They have really shifted their mindset in the way that they think about relatives,” said Patrick Pisani, the Institute’s Director of Replication and Coaching. “They have taken on the expectation that family members want to and will be involved and have approached barriers from a strength-based perspective. I’ve seen them take such strides to get here.”
Bethany Christian Services was driven, equipped, and unwavering in their commitment to act and create real change for their children. During a recent coaching call, Katie Magnuson, Family Finding Specialist, Bethany Christian Services, shared that 86 percent of children entering foster care in the past six months were placed with family. This impact goes beyond just 30 Days to Family® cases—its implementation in Kent County has helped shift the entire child welfare culture toward prioritizing family placements. “The really impressive thing is Katie’s influence on the entire agency,” said Patrick.
Thanks to Katie’s work with 30 Days to Family®, dozens of her colleagues, including judges, are now actively advocating for relative or kinship placement and involvement. This kind of culture shift is exactly what we envision for our 30 Days Family® sites, where the entire system embraces a “kin-first” philosophy.