Extreme foster care placement

I actually got choked up reading this amazing story about a pilot program in St Louis, using a different model to place hard-to-place kids (teens, blacks, sibling groups) in the foster care system by, among other things, employing investigators to look for family members.*  The program is poised to revolutionize the American foster care system - it's currently engaged in a 5-year outcomes evaluation.

I was so glad I got to read Time magazine's wonderful article - it was in my inaugural issue!  Weird side note: the author of the article is Curtis Sittenfeld, who wrote American Wife, a fictional autobiography (is that the right words) of Laura Bush, that I read a couple years ago.

*The conventional wisdom has long been that since these kids come from dysfunctional families, the entire family would likely be poor prospects, but this program is rejecting that premise and they have almost doubled the placement of hard-to-place kids into "forever families" - i.e., permanent homes.  They often find what they call a "family gem" - someone who is both appropriate and happy to help.  They have found that family members are better able to cope with these kids' special needs, and, even more importantly, teens are especially prone to feel disloyal when they accept non-family adoption, and often resist it - this program avoids this major obstacle.  Win-win-win, all around!