Helping Youth Find the Forever Families They Need
Too often, children linger in foster care once they are ready for adoption because of a lack of an adoptive resource. Waiting too long to find a safe, loving adoptive family increases the child’s risk of aging out of foster care without the support of a family. Sadly, it is common that extended family have lost contact with the child while they were in care, and are unaware of their significant needs. Research shows that when placed with family or friends, children have improved outcomes and more positive experiences.
Adoptive Family Placement
Extreme Family Finding™ puts a team of recruiters and private investigators to work finding multiple extended family members and kin relationships for children most at risk of aging out of foster care without an adoptive resource. This includes older youth, large sibling groups, and children with significant medical or mental health issues.
Extreme Family Finding™ credits its roots to the successful Extreme Recruitment program model, created by FosterAdopt Connect out of Independence, MO. Extreme Family Finding™ builds on that successful model by creating a family tree, contacting and educating family and kin, working to identify permanent adoptive resources and other sources of relational permanency for children and youth, and wrapping concierge support and post-placement services around those identified families. With a combination of research, advocacy, and support, 80% of the children served are matched with permanency resources, and 90% are reconnected with safe and appropriate lifelong support.
Extreme Family Finding™ Case Requirements
Children served by Extreme Family Finding™ must be:
Aged 10 or older. Exceptions to this are allowed if the child meets ONE or more of the following criteria:
- The child is part of a sibling group being served.
- The child has documented elevated medical or mental health needs.
- The child has been legally free for adoption for six months with no permanent resource identified.
Legally free for adoption. An exception may be made if ALL of the following criteria are met:
- Reunification is no longer the case plan.
- The court grants written permission to the Extreme Family Finding™ team to utilize the child’s picture and strengths-based profile for recruitment through print media, online resources, and on television.
- The child’s Family Support Team agrees that Extreme Family Finding™ is in the child’s best interest.
Meet the kids EFF™ serves
TJ
It is impossible to be more excited to talk about TJ! This seventeen-year-old Student of the Month loves basketball, and he would eat steak every day if he could. He enjoys playing Call of Duty, and he is interested in a wide variety of movies and television shows. TJ hopes to be a famous YouTuber someday, but he works to keep his focus on school.
For more information about this incredible young man, please contact the Extreme Family Finding® team! Our contact information is at the bottom of this webpage!
Mattias
Meet Mattias, the LEGO legend! With just a few pieces and his imagination, he can create vast cities and worlds that transport him anywhere. He’ll often include his favorite Pokémon characters in his play and the worlds he builds. Mattias is a naturally creative youth who loves using his imagination. He enjoys playing Pokémon, video games, board games, and expressing himself through music. Mattias is known for being loyal and respectful, and getting along with children of all ages is easy. If granted any superpower, he would wish for telepathy so that he could read minds and predict the future to help stop disasters from happening.
For more information about this incredible young man, please contact the Extreme Family Finding® team! Our contact information is at the bottom of this webpage!
Noah
Meet Noah! Noah is 13 years old. He is shy and nervous about sharing his picture. He is Caucasian with short brown hair and big brown eyes. He is in 8th grade. His favorite subject is history. His two favorite movies are Top Gun and Gone in 60 Seconds. He loves football and plays as a defensive lineman. He enjoys fishing and is happiest while riding a dirt bike. His favorite sports teams are the Missouri Tigers and the Miami Dolphins. If he could have any superpower, he wishes he could have super strength. When he grows up, he hopes to work in construction or be an electrician.
Noah has an older brother with whom he wishes to remain in contact.
For Missouri children, both home-studied and non-home studied Missouri families are encouraged to inquire; only home studied families from other states should do so.
