Youth Voice on Recruiting Foster Parents for Teens

 

On Nov. 1, 2026, the OHIO YAB held a focus group to discuss foster parent recruitment for teens. 

The discussion focused on: 

1. How to advertise
2. How NOT to advertise
3. Where to advertise
4. Where NOT to advertise

1.) How to Advertise:

• Foster parent recruitment for teens must be a DIFFERENT strategy than for babies and children. 
• These are teens, on the verge of young adulthood. Focus on what they are looking for: "I am looking for a safe place to build my future. 
• When you foster teens, you are not fostering a child anymore; you are fostering a future adult. 
• Flyers and posters should have bright colors, cheerful language, and focus on how: "This could be a positive addition to your life; an opportunity to help a teen prepare to be an adult."
• Set up realistic expectations. Describe the relationship as a give-and-take. Teens have skills, talents and insights to share. 
• The flyer or poster could have a photo of a teen hugging an adult, as an example of positive relationship building. 
• Tagline ideas: 
• If you are ready to stand side by side with a teen, and learn and grow together.
• Would you like to be a hero in a teen's life?
• Foster: Support, Uplift, and Help a Teen Grow
• Framing the Message:
• Show a real-life positive example that will inspire others. 
• This reflects the power of storytelling, and shows you who teens are. 
• Teens in foster care have goals and dreams for the future. 
• Focus on their career paths and professions.
• Commercial:
• "My name is ____, and my goals are..." with real-life photos.
• Quote: "I believe the advertisement should humanize foster youth. They aren't separate species, an alien or an animal, they are humans with goals and dreams."
• Interviews:
• Uplift a real-life successful teen-and-foster-parent relationship. This provides authentic voice. It creates normalcy around a new new idea, and makes it seem more doable. 
• Interview a former foster youth who is now a foster parent today.
• The goal of fostering a teen is helping them learn independence and building trust over time. 

2.) How NOT to Advertise:

• Don't pair a photo of a foster youth with a negative message like: "Jeremy is such a strong-willed child."   
• Don't describe the teen or teens in general in a negative way.
• Don't refer to teens as children. 
• Don't post a sad photo of a teen looking down in a hoodie:
• Don't advertise on our pain. 
• Instead, paint a picture of how a caring foster parent for teens can help us build our future.
• If advertising to the faith community, avoid messages like, "Bring a soul to Jesus, be a foster parent."
• Avoid manipulation, tear-jerkers, and seeking pity -- we are not lost puppies. 
• Don't assume the teen wants to be adopted. Too often, teens are abandoned at age 18 by adoptive parents, and ineligible for resources.
• Don't tell a foster parent of a teen to promise forever. They should underpromise and overdeliver. Avoid false promises. 

3.) Where to Advertise:

• Be intentional, and focus on targeting specific professionals that serve youth. 
• Speaking as current and former foster youth, we don't want to invite EVERYONE into the pool of foster parents. They need to be safe, emotionally stable and fostering for the right reasons. 
• We don't just want more foster parents for teens, we want foster parents for teens whose motivations are genuine. 
• Schools: This is a learning environment that includes parents, coaches and teachers. 
• Libraries, Parks and Recreation Centers: These are places of positive gatherings. The staff at these places might be interested as well.
• Health-Related Locations: Dental Clinics, Family Medicine, Primary Care, Hospitals. These are places of compassion and healing. 
• Places of Worship: These should be included, but with a caveat on how you advertise. A teen shouldn't feel blackmailed to adhere to your faith in order to live in your foster home. 

4.) Where NOT to Advertise: 

• Do NOT limit your advertising to the poorest and most crime-ridden areas of town. 
• Framing matters: Don't post a foster parent recruitment poster on a bench, right next to a sign that says: "Give plasma for money."  The motivation for fostering matters. It should NOT be financially based. 
• Avoid Billboards: Stay away from broad advertisement, and be more targeted and intentional, to get those who want to foster for the right reason.