About Us

About Discover Foster Parenting

DiscoverFosterParenting.org is a project of the Jean Pierce Center for Quality Foster Parenting at FosterClub. 

Jean Pierce (1925 – 2019) was a community volunteer for over 60 years. Among her most passionate commitments was the monitoring of quality of care for foster children through The Citizens Review Board and Court Appointed Special Advocates. She was honored in 2016 with a Point of Light award for her lifetime of community service.

DiscoverFosterParenting.org is a project developed in partnership with the Every Child Oregon, FosterClub, the CHAMPS campaign, the North American Council on Adoptable Children, and the Oregon Department of Human Services.

The Discover Foster Parenting campaign aims to provide information to people who are considering becoming foster families so that they can self determine whether they want to take the next step of becoming foster parents.  And, for those who do want to take the next step, we seek to provide additional information so that they have a better understanding of their role as a foster parent. We believe foster parenting is one of the greatest service activities a person can undertake, and hope to inspire others to step up to help children and families heal during times of crisis. Or, when children cannot return home safely, to ensure children find other stable placements through kinship/ guardianship or adoption.

Our Guiding Principles

1. All children need and do best in families – birth, kin, foster or adoptive. When a child needs foster care, quality foster parenting must be a priority.
2. Foster parents are one of the most important partners in promoting the safety and wellbeing of children in foster care, helping them heal and thrive.
3. Foster parents are critical to transitions, including the children’s transition to birth family or to another permanency outcome.
4. Establishing and prioritizing effective approaches to recruiting, retaining, and supporting foster parents yields better outcomes and can be cost-effective.

Our Objectives 

• Provide clear information to prospective foster parents to improve readiness of families (including children and extended relatives) 
• Increase prospective foster parent knowledge about their role and how to meet the needs of children and families. 
• Increase number of recruited foster parents with improved understanding of foster parent role. 
• Create an elevated narrative of foster parenting by honoring the contributions to society made by foster parents.