NFPA History

NFPA and COSA meet with members of Congress, taking a leadership role in supporting the passage of H.R. 3058, the Recruiting Families Using Data Act of 2023.

Imprintnews.org/Fostering Media Connections publishes Family Foster Care: National Workforce Standards Needed Now by NFPA Lifetime members Eileen Mayers Pasztor and Irene Clements, with Dr. Rick Delaney. The Op Ed provides a 40-year historical perspective on endeavors to improve the quality of family foster care and why, without a mandate, outcomes will continue to be uneven. The Op Ed calls for courageous conversations and political will.

NFPA’s Timeline of Tradition: Decades of Dedication to Foster Families - Networking, Education, and Advocacy is presented to the NFPA by former President, Executive Director, and Lifetime Member Irene Clements at the Annual National Conference.

Fostering Families Today/Fostering Media Connections publishes a College Ready, Career Prepared issue. NFPA is proud to be a sponsor of this special issue.

Fostering Families Today publishes “What the Numbers Say” authored by NFPA Council of State Affiliates (CoSA) Chair, Jessica Lloyd-Rogers. The article documents the hundreds of millions of dollars in financial contribution that foster parents make, as round-the-clock volunteers, to subsidize the country’s foster care system nationally.

The Ritz Crackers Corporation reaches out to NFPA to assist with their Ritz Foster Program, a collaborative effort to highlight foster and adoptive families during May and June. The NFPA becomes a National Partner, assisting Ritz staff and contractors as they developed their “TasteofWelcome.com” website. They film a touching extended length commercial. Ritz is a sponsor for the 2021 education training conference.

Presidents
2020 - Karen Poteet (OK)

Executive Directors/Administrators
2020 – 2021 Irene Clements
2022 Arnold Eby

Conferences
2020 No conference due to the COVID Pandemic
2021 Virtual Conference Forward
2022 Virtual Conference Strength…Networking, Educating, Advocating
2023 Reston, VA Making Connections

Fostering Families Today magazine, under the leadership of Editor Kim Hansel, offers a column in each issue for NFPA to share information with readers. FFT also includes a series on Strength-based Words and Expressions including “Reframe – From Home Study to Family Assessment” and “No More Hard to Place Child” and “From Visitation to Family Time.”

NFPA Board of Directors creates “Coffee with Caregivers,” a weekly program funded by United Healthcare. Executive Director Irene Clements talks with many dozens of individuals with diverse lived and professional experiences. They share stories about and recommendations for family foster care, adoption, and kinship care. The “Coffee with Caregivers” conversations are especially valuable when people could not be together in person due to the COVID pandemic. The interviews are available on www.nfpaonline.org and YouTube.

NFPA Board of Directors and Executive Director collaborate with the Centene Corporation to create the NFPA Training Institute. This new venture provides educational training video sessions for foster parents across the country as well as staff who work with them. The focus is information most relevant for foster, kinship and adoptive families. The videos are available for free, 24 hours a day, with speakers representing a diverse array of expertise.

Fostering Families Today/Fostering Media Connections publishes KINCARE Today magazine, a special issue in support of and recognizing kinship caregivers. NFPA is proud to be a sponsoring organization.

The Council of State Affiliates revises the Code of Ethics from 1974 and renames the new document “Guiding Principles for Foster Families.”

NFPA creates Helping Kinship, Foster, and Adoptive Families Support the Health and Well-being of Children in Their Care. Funded by United Healthcare, several members of the Board of Directors and the NFPA Executive Director author, pilot and implement the training program for use in states where children in foster care are served through United Healthcare managed Medicaid.

NFPA contracts with a consulting firm to create a new strategic plan for 2019-2021. Set in place by the end of 2018, the Board of Directors and staff begin the new activities in early 2019. Three committees are established for Board approval. One particular aspect of this planning acknowledges that the current Executive Director, Irene Clements, and
Administrative Assistant, Sharon Holman, would be retiring at the end of 2021. This Strategic Plan developed timelines essential to this transition, and made recommendations for the incoming Executive Director and Board members as well as reassessment of all current NFPA programs and activities.

NFPA sends a letter to the U.S. Administration for Children and Families, DHHS, addressing the proposed Model Family Foster Home Licensing Standards.

Fostering Families Today of Fostering Media Connections publishes Kids on the Hill – Key Issues in its 2017-2018 magazine. NFPA is proud to be a sponsoring organization for this special issue.

NFPA Executive Director, Irene Clements, authors an article providing an overview of the past four years of work accomplished by the NFPA Board of Directors, Council of State Affiliates and Administrative staff.

The CHAMPS Campaign (Children Need Amazing Parents Campaign), a multidisciplinary partnership of national organizations, to include the NFPA as a key partner, launched to promote state and federal policies that ensure high quality parenting for children in foster care and provides information and supports to state foster parent associations to advocate for needed changes within their own states. The launch was held during the NFPA annual education conference in Houston, TX.

Chronicle of Social Change publishes “A Letter from the Future: Celebrating Achievements for Vulnerable Children and Families” by three members of the NFPA Board of Directors, the Executive Director, and a CWLA colleague. The article pretends it is 2018 and congratulates members of Congress and other elected officials for the accomplishments it was hoped would be made on behalf of vulnerable children and their families.

Chronicle of Social Change publishes “Words Matter – A Strength-based Approach for Family Foster Care” by NFPA members including Eileen Mayers Pasztor, Karen Poteet, Donna Petras, Jean Fiorito, and NFPA president Irene Clements. The article explains how words and expressions used historically and get passed down from generations no longer have current meaning. This includes referring to children as placements or cases, and offers alternatives.

Advocates for Families First, Public Policy Agenda, presents to the U.S. Congress in June. Collaboration between NFPA, North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC), and Generations United, has project funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, and the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative. This three-year endeavor results in recommendations including Prioritizing Family Care, Empowering Youth and Family Voices, Supporting Families, and Preparing Caregivers, and Achieving Permanency. NFPA President Irene Clements, Board member Karen Poteet, and consultant Jean Fiorito provide testimony for this event attended by over 100 staffers and elected officials.

The country of Poland contacts NFPA President Irene Clements asking for information on “America’s foster care system.” NFPA responds to 10 questions requesting about policies, programs, and practices with a special focus on recruitment and retention.

Upon request by the state of West Virginia and its division of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the NFPA president, Irene Clements, goes twice for five days to provide consultation and guidance to the two state agencies with authority over foster care services; meet with foster parents from across the state; and provide a workshop at their AAP conference.
A brief on “Unaccompanied Alien Children and Foster Care Systems Across the Country” was authored by NFPA president, Irene Clements. This brief is disseminated through NFPA’s social media outlets.

Helen D. Stone, NFPA co-founder, receives a “Lifetime Achievement Award.” The award is presented in person by NFPA leader, Michael Peterson, on behalf of NFPA and CWLA. Articles featuring the award and photos of Helen Stone in her early and later years are featured in CWLA’s Children’s Voice and Fostering Media Connections’ Fostering Families Today. The award included a vase with flowers and the Lifetime Achievement Award inscription. During what would be her last months, Helen’s family provided updates based on their daily visits and sharing that she “loves hearing from all her friends.” Her family spoke of the “enthusiasm and
passion that Helen brought to every interest she had, from children to juggling to travel.” At the end of May, Helen’s family wrote again, sharing that she passed away peacefully on May 22. NFPA and CWLA send deepest sympathies to Helen Stone’s family and friends, bidding a fond farewell to a visionary, mentor, and true advocate for children and family foster care.

NFPA contracts with PATH, Inc., a treatment family foster care agency headquartered in Minnesota to provide administrative and financial accounting services.

Upon request by the U.S. State Department, the president of the NFPA, Irene Clements, meets for a full day with delegates from Bulgaria as they visited several areas of the U.S. to learn more about foster care programs, services and supports.

The U.S. House Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Human Resources, invites the NFPA to Washington, DC to provide testimony during their Hearing on Letting Kids Be Kids: Balancing Safety with Opportunity for Foster Youth. NFPA President, Irene Clements, presents both written and public testimony. NFPA’s President is one of five state and national foster care leaders invited to provide testimony at the Hearing. Legislation is passed in the coming year on “Normalcy for Youth in Care.”

CWLA’s new curriculum, Collaborating with Kinship Caregivers, is featured in a workshop at the NFPA national conference, recognizing the importance of supporting kinship caregivers.

NFPA publishes a new Board of Directors Manual to reflect the current work of the NFPA and help move the NFPA forward.

NFPA is invited to meet at the National Association of Broadcasters headquarters in Washington, DC to advocate for script writers to include a storyline on foster youth. This include the head scriptwriter for the show Judging Amy.

NFPA contracts with Iowa Foster and Adoptive Parents Association to provide administrative and financial accounting services.

The new NFPA Journal is rolled out to all members, under the leadership of Gordon Evans, Information and Services Director.

NFPA begins collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Two meetings, held annually at the AAP headquarters in Chicago, IL, focus on developing guidelines for pediatricians to provide appropriate health care to infants, children and youth in foster care.

The collaboration continues for five years resulting in the development of checklists for pediatricians and many brochures and other items for pediatricians to share with their patients/parents. Input from the NFPA representatives assists the AAP with their advocacy work in Washington, DC.

Presidents
2010 – 2012 Melvin Gravely (OH)

2012 – 2015 Irene Clements (TX)
2015 – 2018 Patricia Llewellyn (MT)
2018 – 2019 Karen Poteet (OK)

Executive Directors/Administrators
2010 - 2012 Carl Jones
2015 – 2019 Irene Clements

Conferences
2010 Baltimore, MD A Voyage of Hope…Sailing to Permanency
2011 Mobile, AL Foster Care: The Road to Permanency
2012 Oak Brook Hills, IL Educate, Celebrate, Advocate
2013 Long Beach, CA Oceans of Opportunity…Catch a Wave to Permanence!
2014 Orlando, FL Launching Tomorrow’s Dreams Today
2015 Norfolk, VA
2016 Las Vegas, NV Better Together (with a special focus for kinship caregivers)
2017 Houston, TX “Big and Bright” Deep in the Heart of Texas
2018 Orlando, FL Waves of Change: Oceans of Opportunity
2019 Garden Grove, CA Navigating the Future

The new NFPA Journal is rolled out to all members, under the leadership of Gordon Evans, Information and Services Director.

NFPA begins collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Two meetings, held annually at the AAP headquarters in Chicago, IL, focus on developing guidelines for pediatricians to provide appropriate health care to infants, children and youth in foster care.

The collaboration continues for five years resulting in the development of checklists for pediatricians and many brochures and other items for pediatricians to share with their patients/parents. Input from the NFPA representatives assists the AAP with their advocacy work in Washington, DC.

NFPA’s annual conference in Washington, DC has 1,000 participants over the Memorial Day weekend. Conference includes “NFPA Day on Capitol Hill,” with the main issue promoting a federal law for all foster youth to remain in care until age 21.

The MARC Report, Establishing Foster Care Minimum Adequate Rates for Children, is published. A collaboration by Children’s Rights, NFPA, and the University of Maryland School of Social Work), the report is presented at numerous state and national conferences and becomes a benchmark document for members of the U.S. Congress and state legislatures as they determine rate setting for foster care reimbursements nationwide.

NFPA starts the Walk Me Home program to help local, state and other child and family agencies to raise awareness of local/state needs related to foster care and help raise funds to better support the foster, kinship and adoptive families in their service areas. Building community support for children in foster care and the families that serve them is key to successful foster care systems.

NFPA publishes the New Board Manual titled NFPA – The Beginning Years.

NFPA published a case statement as an overview of our work. The statement includes: Perspective, Profile of Foster Parents, History of the NFPA, Strengths & Achievements, Organizational Structure, Strategic Plan, Does Foster Care Make a Difference, and a Summary.

Tax Tips for Foster Parents is authored by a staff member of the NFPA. Published annually, it is made available to members each February 1.

Freddie Mac Foundation provides three large grants to the NFPA to do recovery work for foster and adoptive families impacted by Hurricane Katrina. NFPA is selected as one of the five best performing relief groups during that stressful time.

Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services publishes “Foster parent associations: Advocacy, support, and empowerment” as part of its Family Foster Care: Voices from Around the World, with guest editor Rosemarie Carbino. The authors, Eileen Mayers Pasztor and Emily Jean McFadden, dedicate the article to “the founders of the U.S. National Foster Parent Association: the late Beatrice L. Garrett, MSW, U.S. Children’s Bureau, and Helen D. Stone, MSW, CWLA.” Content for the article is based on personal correspondence from Helen Stone and from the late Bea Garrett’s family to the authors.

NFPA Board of Directors develops a proposal titled “Affiliate Capacity Building Project” but it is not funded.

NFPA produces a Legal Resource Manual for Foster Parents in collaboration with the American Bar Association on Children and the Law, Legal Advocates for Permanent Parenting, and CWLA.

CWLA’s National Data Analysis System publishes The Cost of Raising a Child Compared to Foster Care Maintenance Payments. This study lead to collaboration among Children’s Rights, the University of Maryland School of Social Work, and NFPA. The aim is to create a proposal for funding to make recommendations to lawmakers who set foster care reimbursement rates across the county.

At the annual education conference in Orlando, FL, foster parents are asked to complete a survey to assist the NFPA Board of Directors and the Council of State Affiliates understand the issues and needs experienced by foster families across the country. The results of the survey are distributed and utilized by the Board and the Council.

A Task Force on NFPA Board Restructuring, funded by the David & Lucille Packard Foundation, assesses the current state of the NFPA and how to build capacity for the future.

The NFPA collaborates with Foster Parent Net and the Professional Association of Treatment Homes, Inc. to develop and publish the Foster Parent Support Group Companion Workbook.

NFPA provides an overview of the past four years of celebrating National Foster Care Month, as a collaborating partner with the U.S. Children’s Bureau and the Child Welfare Information Gateway. Topics include: Background, Need, Scope, Audience, Strategy, Participants, Resources, Processes, Messages, Products, Interactive On-line Tools, Overall Impact, Feedback and Looking Ahead.

NFPA published a summary of a survey of foster parents, with 29 states responding. The information obtained from the survey was utilized by the Council of State Affiliates to better meet the needs of foster parents nationwide.

Presidents
2000 – 2004 Randy Ruth (MN)
2004 – 2010 Marvin Ferneau (IA)

Executive Directors/Administrators
2000 – 2008 Karen Jorgenson
2008 – 2009 Carl Jones

Conferences
2000 Minneapolis, MN Team Spirit Fosters Winners
2001 Cincinnati, OH The Heart of it All
2002 Las Vegas, NV
2003 Des Moines, IA Invest in Children…Our Future
2004 Orlando, FL Lifting Spirits - Touching Lives
2005 Garden Grove, CA Back to the Future
2006 San Antonio, TX You Could Be the Lone Star in a Child’s Life
2007 Washington, DC Foster Parents in Action - Strengthening Our Voice
2008 Atlanta, GA Walk Me Home - To the Place I Belong
2009 Reno, NV Focus on the Future…Love a Child

The NFPA publishes A System in Transition: Examining Foster Parent Recruitment and Retention in the New Millennium authored by Karen Jorgenson and Jane Schooler.

NFPA collaborates with the National Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry concerning medication for children in foster care.

The National Grange initiates a collaboration and a supportive relationship grows. National Grange state affiliates take turns making a beautiful handmade quilt each year that is auctioned at the annual NFPA conferences. Funds support the NFPA Benjamin Eaton Scholarship Fund. NFPA leaders also attends National Grange conference to provide information about fostering.

NFPA continues working with several national insurance companies to offer liability insurance coverage to foster parents. This work continued for a number of years but ultimately is not successful due to no liability insurance carriers provided such coverage in all fifty states due to varying state requirements.

Numerous articles and documents are produced by the NFPA to continue their support of Foster Parent Rights in all states, with increased support for rights that actually would be honored and supported by others in the foster care system.

NFPA publishes “Organizing a Foster Parent Association or Support Group” and “Tips on Succeeding” to be used to start new local and/or state associations and help current groups improve their functionality.

NFPA has created the Council of State Affiliates (CoSA) which develops and implements a Survey of State Foster Care Systems and provided a 13-page report on the findings. Representatives from 23 state foster parent associations and 23 state foster care managers complete the survey which provides valuable information for both CoSA and NFPA to improve supports and services in respective states and local foster care programs.

NFPA establishes a select committee to develop a long-range plan presented to the NFPA Board of Directors for consideration and approval.

The NFPA Office of Information Services publishes

• Local Foster Parent Associations: Togetherness for Success
• State Foster Parent Associations and Local Associations
• Foster Parent Associations
• Functions of Foster Parent Associations
• Foster Parent Associations – Tips for Succeeding

NFPA collaborates with Pre-Paid Legal to provide legal assistance to foster families upon each family paying for the coverage. This program did not grow as projected and was discontinued upon determination by the Board of Directors.

The 1992 conference in Atlanta holds the record for the most participants to date: 1,490!

NFPA collaborates with CWLA to convene a National Commission on Family Foster Care (NCFFC) in response to negative media reports. The 50-member commission is comprised of public and private agency directors, former youth in care, researchers, members of other advocacy organizations, and social work interns. The NCFFC authors and CWLA publishes A Blueprint for Fostering Infants, Children, and Youths in the 1990s, providing dozens of policy, program, and practice recommendations. Of special significance is reframing “foster family care” to “family foster care” to emphasize the care of children in families. The NCFFC also proposes “Kinship Care” as the name for the full-time protection and nurture of children by relatives, members of tribes or clans, non-related extended family members or anyone children and relatives identify as kin. Until then, there was no widely recognized or defined name; the Commission selects “kinship care” based on the book by Dr. Carol B. Stack, All Our Kin – Strategies for Survival in a Black Community. The NCFFC advocates for kinship care to be recognized as an “essential first option” to be considered when parents and children were separated and under the formal jurisdiction of child protective services.

NFPA publishes The Roles of State Foster Parent Associations, Foster Parent Associations – A Significant Resource for Foster Parents and Agencies, and Foster Care Facts and Figures.

NFPA commits to support the work of the National Committee for the Rights of the Child.

NFPA leads the advocacy endeavors to pass the non-taxability of foster care payments, recognizing the daily reimbursement per child in care to foster families as just that – reimbursement of costs for the child and not income to the family.

Presidents

1990 – 1992 Ralph Willenbring (MN)

1992 – 1996 Cora White (WI)

1996 – 2000 Shirley Hedges (KY)

Executive Directors/Administrators

1995 – 1996 Marianne Takas

1999 Karen Jorgenson

Conferences

1990 Phoenix, AZ Mi Casa es su Casa (My Home is Your Home)

1991 Minneapolis, MN Building Brighter Futures

1992 Atlanta, GA If It Is To Be, It Is Up To Me

1993 Salt Lake City, UT Your Heart and Home Make a Difference

1994 Grand Rapids, MI Training Today for A Brighter Tomorrow

1995 Chicago, IL A New Beginning-Back to Basics: Renewing Our Commitment

1996 Los Angeles, CA Foster Parents Caring for America’s Children

1997 Lexington, KY Place a Bet for the Future-Love a Child

1998 Orlando, FL

1999 Albuquerque, NM “Help the Sun Rise in a Child’s Life”

The NFPA Board of Directors provided comments on the publication, Impact of Economic Incentives on Foster Parents.

The NFPA Legislative Chair, Irene Clements, develops NFPA ADVOCACY 101 to be used for education and training purposes at the NFPA annual conferences, as well as at state foster parent association conferences.

Jake Terpstra, Foster Care Specialist at the U.S. Children’s Bureau, writes Specialized Family Home Care and A Concept Paper on Family Foster Care; both are utilized by the NFPA for future planning.

NFPA establishes the Benjamin Eaton Scholarship Fund for high school seniors who are foster, adoptive and birth children in licensed NFPA member foster families. The number of scholarships awarded each year is dependent on the funds available. Eligible youth are required to complete an application for consideration.

Gordon Evans, NFPA Board member, is appointed as Director of NFPA’s new Information and Services Office.

NFPA Board Member and National Advocate Editor, Gordon Evans, is selected to serve on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect for the Office of the Human Development Services. He provides input as a valued member of this advisory board. During this time, information developed by this advisory board is shared with the NFPA membership through the Information and Services Office and the NFPA National Advocate newsletter.

NFPA collaborates with the Child Welfare Institute in Atlanta on a study of all 50 state child welfare agencies that addressed pre-service and in-service training for foster parents, foster parent adoptions, implications and next steps.

CWLA appoints Eileen Mayers Pasztor, DSW, foster/adoptive parent and NFPA member as its first national director for family foster care and adoption. Pasztor had begun working with Helen Stone in 1978 for the CWLA Foster Care Education Project; and recognized for her work on the Nova Model of Foster Parent Recruitment, Assessment, and Training and MAPP (Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting).

NFPA considers a concept paper from CWLA, a NFPA co-founder, to develop a national office with organizational supports. The objectives are to provide a central location for the NFPA; support lobbying activities; work with state associations; and develop research, demonstration, and other projects. NFPA declines the offer.

The American Bar Association publishes “The Rights of Foster Parents.” NFPA collaborates with the ABA, CWLA, and other national organizations to support the development of Foster Parent Rights in each state. This work continues through the 1990’s and 2000’s.

NFPA members review and vote to approve several new Position Statements during the General Membership Meeting at the annual education conference held in Parsippany, NJ.

The NFPA persuades U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond (R-SC) to introduce a resolution to proclaim May as National Foster Care Month. President George Bush issued the annual proclamation during each hear of his presidency, providing an impetus for state, county and city proclamations across the United States. This continues today.

NFPA collaborates with U.S. House of Representatives, Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families regarding reforms for the foster care system, providing numerous recommendations.

NFPA collaborates with New York Department of Law regarding litigation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture over the inclusion of foster care maintenance payments in the income of foster parents for the purpose of determining their eligibility for food stamps and for calculating the amount of food stamps to be provided (becoming Foster v. Calani, 1988).

The NFPA Progress Plan is shared with members of the NFPA to inform successful work of the NFPA and help them better understand the ongoing advocacy, education and networking on their behalf.

Child Welfare Institute headquartered in Atlanta begins to create the Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting (MAPP). Reinforcing the role of foster parents as a resource and recognizing the value of foster parent adoptions, MAPP integrates recruitment, preservice training, and home studies for foster and adoptive parents together. The Massachusetts Department of Social Services pioneers initial implementation.

NFPA members, including Irene Clements, Marc Jacobs, Eileen Mayers Pasztor, Emily Jean McFadden, and Carolyne Rodriguez, participate in the International Foster Care Organization (IFCO) conference in Christ Church, New Zealand.

Researchers William (Bill) Meezan and Joan Shireman publish “Antecedents to foster parent adoption decisions” in Children and Youth Services Review, documenting the stability of adoptions by foster parents. Historically, foster parents were prohibited or at least discouraged from adopting assuming it would interfere with reunification. The findings evidence stability because foster parents know the children in their care and often also their birth parents.

Helen Stone, CWLA’s Foster Care Director, and co-founder of the NFPA writes The National Foster Parent Association: The Beginning Years, describing the history of the NFPA from 1967 to 1984.

NFPA enters into an agreement with American Foster Care Resources (AFCR) to produce their newsletter, the Foster Care Journal. This agreement continued through 1992.

IMPACT, The Newsletter of the Foster Parent Education Network features articles titled Foster Parents as Trainers; Evaluation of Training: Factors and Strategies; and the results of the National Survey on Recruitment, Preservice, and Inservice Training Around the Country based on input from two dozen educator/trainers from New Hampshire to California and Florida to Alaska who participated in the 1983 national conference in Norfolk, VA.

Preventing Abuse in Family Foster Care is published by the Eastern Michigan University Institute for the Study of Children and Families and the Social Work Department. Authored by NFPA member Emily Jean McFadden with co-authors Marjorie Siefert and Bennie Stovall, this Instructor’s Manual is funded by the National Center on Abuse and Neglect.

NFPA develops A Public Education Project to assist states and Congress to plan for educational services for children and youth educational needs.

International Foster Care Organization (IFCO) president, Bernard Lernout from Belgium, participates in the NFPA national conference, inviting NFPA members to the next IFCO conferences scheduled for 1985 in New Zealand.

NFPA publishes An Evolutionary Review of Foster Parent’s Roles in the Foster Care System, written by NFPA Board of Directors member Carolyne Rodriguez.

NFPA Publishes a ‘white paper’ on Leadership Training for state foster parent associations.

The Nova Foster Parent Project’s five year report to NIMH documents that foster parents who are recruited, trained, and assessed as team members are more likely to work successfully with the children in their care and more likely to be retained. The idea of foster parents as a resource is affirmed.

NFPA publishes Foster Parents and the IRS – A Workbook for Foster Parents, to assist foster parents in more effectively completing their annual federal tax returns. The value of this publication led to its being updated on an annual basis and available on the NFPA website for support with tax preparation and filing.

The Foster Parent’s Rights to Share in Decision Making for the Foster Child is published by the National Legal Resources Center for Child Advocacy and Protection to assist the NFPA in advocacy efforts on this topic.

Congress passes the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act (P.L. 96-272) with the aim to reduce reliance on out-of-home care and encourage use of preventative and reunification services. The law required states to comply with numerous standards designed to improve the system, with the emphasis on foster care as a temporary solution. The NFPA advocates to more effectively support foster families across the country as part of this law.

The NFPA Conference Committee, led by Conference Chair, May Roberts, develops the Conference Planner’s Manual that is shared with state foster parent associations.

CWLA publishes the book, The Challenge of Partnership: Working with Parents of Children in Foster Care, edited by social work professors Tony Maluccio and Paula Singanoglu, with an article by NFPA members Emily Jean McFadden, Patricia Ryan and Bruce Warren titled, “Foster Parents – A Resource for Helping Biological Parents.” This provides the framework for workshops on this topic at subsequent NFPA conferences, and provides a foundation for foster parents as resource parents.

Presidents
1980 – 1982 Harley Mackey (OK)
1983 – 1986 Carl Brown (SC)
1987 – 1990 George Werkmeister (CO)

Executive Directors/Administrators
1980 – 1982 Jacob Sprouse, Jr (VA)

Conferences
1980 Kansas City, MO Share Love in Heartland USA
1981 Detroit, MI Don’t Let It Rest Until Good Becomes Best
1982 Bismarck, ND Give the Children Back Their Childhood
1983 Norfolk, VA National Focus on Foster Care
1984 Denver, CO Our Tomorrows are Created by What We Reflect Today
1985 Fort Worth, TX Forget Me Not
1986 Wilmington, DE Join the Team that Cares About Kids
1987 Anaheim, CA The Magic of Love
1988 St. Charles, IL Give Someone the Home Advantage
1989 Parsippany, NJ Children and Families: Perfect Together

The NFPA creates the National Advocate, its newsletter to be written and mailed to all NFPA members. It is edited by Gordon Evans, NFPA Board member from Texas with communications expertise.

U.S. Supreme Court rules in Miller v. Youakim that relatives who meet foster home licensing standards are eligible for the same reimbursement as unrelated foster parents. The NFPA begins advocacy endeavors to include relative families.

The Foster Parent Educators Network is created by a group of foster parent trainers and educators who get together at the NFPA national conference in Boston. They initially name themselves the “The 515 Founders” because they meet in that hotel room of two participants from University of Houston Foster Parent Education Project – Sharon Carey and Angie Grindon. Minutes from that first meeting report, “If you believe in energy currents finding one another, then you have the perfect background for the meeting that occurred on April 6, 1979 in Room 515.” Representatives include The Network begins publishing IMPACT, the Newsletter of the Foster Parent Education Network, rotated among Network members and their affiliations. Initial founders include Marc Jacobs from Massachusetts Community College, Eileen Mayers Pasztor from Nova University Foster Parent Project, and Emily Jean McFadden from the Institute for the Study of Children and Families at Eastern Michigan University, Ann Middleton and Joe Moore from CWLA, Christine Jolly from Nebraska Department of Public Welfare, and Sandi Euster from the University of So. Georgia.

The authors of this NFPA Historical Timeline, Irene Clements and Eileen Mayers Pasztor, first meet when the Nova University Foster Parent Project Model is brought to Houston, TX in the process of being shared across the country.

The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) P.L. 96-608 is passed by Congress to help ensure that Native American children would be cared for by their tribes before being sent to white families or what historically had been known as “Indian Boarding Schools.”

National Action for Foster Children, chaired by Raymond McClelland from Wisconsin, names Mrs. J.M. (Marie) Cox, Comanche Tribe in Oklahoma as Outstanding Indian Woman of 1977. Mrs. Cox is one of the principal signers of the Bill of Rights for Foster Children.

U.S. Children’s Bureau funds development of Parenting Plus, produced by the Foster Parent Curriculum Development Project of the Child Welfare League of America, Helen Stone, Director. Topics include “What is Foster Parenting,” “The Foster Child in Our Home,” “Our Foster Child’s Natural Parents,” “Working with the Agency,” “You, the Agency, and the Community” and “Placement.”

NFPA publishes Guidelines for Planning Statewide and National Foster Parent Conferences. These Guidelines are based on the work of a special committee established to develop this important document as planners of state and national conferences strive to provide training/education for caregivers and the staff who work with foster families.

NFPA’s Council of Advisors is expanded “to include foster care representatives from other countries” according to an article in The Foster Parent Reporter, spring issue. The article identifies representatives from Australia, Canada, Japan, and Great Britain whose association was formed in 1974 expanded to 100 local associations. According to Council of Advisors chair Ron Wood from Iowa, “The NFPA seeks to strengthen its advocacy of all children – everywhere.”

A New Partnership: Foster Parent Associations and Liaison Social Workers is written by Jeanne Hunzeker and published by CWLA.

The importance of support for foster parents and foster parent organizations is recognized by the American Public Welfare Association (APWA) in its Standards for Foster Family Services Systems with Guidelines for Implementation Specifically Related to Public Agencies.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) advocates for private child welfare agencies to accept a proportionate share of children of color as, prior to this date, most agencies would accept only white children.

The National Foster Parent Association (NFPA) is founded. By a voice vote of 1200 foster parents and social workers attending the Second Annual Foster Parent Conference in Denver, Colorado on May 7, the NFPA, with a Constitution and By-Laws, was created. Participants created caucuses from states in the regional areas of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), now Health and Human Services (HHS) to serve on the Board of Directors. Information in support of the new NFPA would be shared in The Foster Parent Reporter, published by Child Welfare League of America (CWLA).

U.S. Children’s Bureau awards a three-year demonstration project grant to CWLA to official launch the NFPA. Leadership is provided by Beatrice L. Garrett, MSW, Specialist on Foster Family Services, and Helen D. Stone, MSW, CWLA Foster Care Project Director.

As described in the project’s first newsletter, The Foster Parent Reporter, the aim is to keep foster families, states and national leaders up to date on the work of establishing a national foster parent association that would be led by foster parents as a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit.

Objectives are to:

• Help establish the NFPA, with local and state chapters.
• Assist in the recruitment of additional foster parents.
• Educate the general public as to the role of foster parenting.
• Expand and improve methods of training foster parents.
• Modify methods of education of foster care workers.
• Operate a national information exchange for foster parent associations and prepare and distribute a newsletter.
• Publish guidelines for the development of local foster parent associations.
• Provide consultation as requested for organizational methods, activities, and training.
• Evaluate and report on the experiences of foster parent associations.
• Determine if foster parent associations can alter practices and policies considered counter-productive to sound foster care.
• Identify the need for liability insurance.
• Identify resources for Native American children in foster care.

Committees are established; officers and ten regional vice presidents are elected; a national director is hired; and a home base in St. Louis, Missouri, is established.

A planning meeting to create the National Foster Parent Association is held in Chicago in May. The majority of 1,000 participants are foster parents, of whom 40% are foster fathers. 21 Indian foster parents from eight agencies participate. Social workers are invited to attend but must be accompanied by a foster parent. All states except Nevada, Idaho, and Alaska have foster parent representation. The Children’s Bureau and the Community Services Administration allocates $17,500 to support conference planning with leadership from the national and Chicago field office. Children’s Bureau awards a grant to the CWLA to draft a constitution and by-laws. Additional objectives include creating a newsletter, helping state and local groups form, providing education opportunities, and improving the image of foster parenting through a “well developed public interpretation program.”

Foster Care in Question: A National Reassessment by 21 Experts, a 275-page document published by the Child Welfare League of America calls attention to foster care issues. One of the 21 experts, Ruby Kennedy, a foster parent from Los Angeles, identifies: strengths and weaknesses of foster care programs, attitudes toward board and care rates, salary for foster parents in addition to room and board, special training for foster parents, community attitudes, and new ways to improve foster care programs.

The Rights of Foster Parents by Beatrice L. Garrett, Specialist on Foster Family Care, Children’s Bureau, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare is published in the agency’s magazine, Children; subscriptions available for $2.00.

Presidents
1972 - 1974 Eugene Glynn (MI)
1975 - 1978 David Evans (MS)
1978 - 1979 Harley Mackey (OK)

Executive Directors/Administrators
1973 Dorothy L. Williams (Coordinating Director)
1979 Jacob Sprouse, Jr.

Conferences
1971 Chicago, IL Foster Family-Natural Family-Agency (planning conference)
1972 Denver, CO It’s Gonna Happen
1973 Philadelphia, PA Link of Hope
1974 Spokane, WA Love is Not Enough

1975 Atlanta, GA Together for Children
1976 Honolulu, HI Aloha Means Love; Love Means Children
1977 New York, NY Caring and Sharing (also 1st International Conference)
1978 Houston, TX It’s a Small World
1979 Boston, MA Year of the Child

U.S. Children’s Bureau funds the first National Conference on Foster Care in New Orleans. Recommendations include creating a national association of foster parents, addressing recruitment, improving training and education for foster parents, and providing support for state foster parent associations. Helen Stone, Foster Care Project Director and other CWLA provide leadership and support.

U.S. Children’s Bureau, part of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), names its first National Specialist on Foster Family Care, selecting Beatrice Garrett, MSW, Executive Director of Child & Family Services in Tennessee. Ms. Garrett holds this position until 1976 during which time she published articles such as the “The Bill of Rights for Foster Children” and “The Foster Child’s Conviction of His Self-Worth.” Ms. Garrett was instrumental in working with colleagues at CWLA and other state foster parent associations to create the National Foster Parent Association and the first nationally federally funded training program for foster parents.

Amendments to the Social Security Act, Titles IVB and XX also make federal money available for foster care/two-tier rate.

National Committee on Employment of Youth is created.

Professional journal articles begin to write about foster care and the role of foster parents begins to be explored. An article in Social Service Review by J. Hanford titled “Child Placement and the Family Agency” asks if foster parents are “colleagues, clients, or something in between?”

Foster care expands with more children now in foster homes than in orphanages.

Fair Labor Standards Act establishes general wage and hour rules for all workers, 16 years of age is minimum for employment in industries.

Aid to Dependent Children as Title IV of the Social Security Act is passed.

The Child Welfare League of America (hereafter CWLA) is created. Convened by 68 representatives of community child serving agencies through the Bureau for Exchange of Information (BEI), $25,000 in start-up funding by the Commonwealth Fund paves the way. Dr. C.C. Carstens is appointed as executive director, holding the position until his death in 1939. H. Ida Curry of State Charities Aid Association of NY is selected as the first president of the Board of Directors. The Russell Sage Foundation provides the location.

National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) is organized and advocates for laws to prevent child labor.

Massachusetts recognizes three classes of children who need care:

• Dependent – products of extreme poverty;
• Neglected - parents who could but do not take care of them;
• Juvenile offenders – court related.

The first two are treated the same.

Boarding out – children are placed in foster homes and payments to foster parents are started slowly, and not used much.

Note: this may be where the expression children or families as “placements”comes from, or the ideas that foster parents take children for the money.

Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (created after the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals - SPCA) begins to appear in eastern cities.

Federal Truancy Act compels parents of children ages 5 – 14 to restrain them or place them in employment and ensure they be sent to school.

Children’s Aid Society is founded by Reverend Charles Loring Brace in New York City to raise the funds for the Orphan Train Movement. The aim is to send thousands of destitute, homeless and orphaned children to “Christian homes” in the Midwest. Later other agencies would follow.

Factors such as race, looks, age, development, handicaps – only “best” children were used.

“Placing out” (Free Foster Home Movement) of children in eastern cities to homes in rural areas begins, instead of being in institutions children live with families and work for their room and board.

Orphan asylums and almshouses are the nation’s predominant method of caring for dependent children.