Social Issue Track: Open
Sponsoring Partner: The Margaret S. Lindsay Foundation
Treehouse Boston is a new community-based initiative that serves children in the public foster care system by engaging community members to support children in their neighborhoods, recruiting and preparing adoptive families, and sustaining families through ongoing support and training programs. Over the next five years, Treehouse Boston will open Family Centers in multiple locations throughout the City of Boston, fundamentally changing the way children and families experience adoption through the foster care system.
Social Problem:
- In the Boston area, there are 2,800 children in care and only 1,000 foster homes.
- For every 28 families who inquire about adopting a child from foster care, only one will complete the bureaucratic process.
- Nationally, up to 25 % of adoptions from the public foster care system end with children being returned to state custody.
- Youth who age out of the foster care system are at high risk for prison, homelessness, unemployment and early parenthood – each representing a potential cost to society of $250,000 to $2 million over his or her lifetime.
Key Accomplishments & Social Impact:
- Established a partnership with DSS that designates Treehouse Boston as the referral site for the Roxbury neighborhood.
- Secured Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government as a research partner. The longitudinal data set to be developed will allow for an unprecedented look at adoption dynamics in Boston at the neighborhood level.
- Developed a partnership with the Boston Public Schools to enhance school-based services for Treehouse children and families.
- Discussions are underway with community leaders and organizations including members of the Black Ministerial Alliance, Central Boston Elder Services, and the Shelburne Recreation Center to help engage residents in supporting Treehouse children and families.
Goals – One Year:
- Open the first Treehouse Family Center in Roxbury.
- Match 14 new adoptive families, placing a total of 21 children.
- Provide programs and support for 30 families and 45 children in the neighborhood who are or have been connected to the foster care system.
Increase in Philanthropic Investment – 1 Year:
$472,000
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Ways to Invest
In-Kind Support
- Developing and implementing a marketing communication strategy.
- Developing IT infrastructure.
- Implementing a database and management reporting system.
- Developing the Treehouse Boston website.
- Adding 2-3 Board members who have expertise in business growth and marketing. Also seeking members with leadership experience within the Roxbury/Dorchester communities
Financial Support
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Program staff to support children and families |
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Curriculum development for parent education |
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Research/Evaluation Software – Customization, Licensing, Training |
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Children’s Room & Parents’ Resource Library |
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Community outreach meetings
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Contact Information
Linda Stundis
(617) 327-7564
linda.stundis@verizon.net
Location
Boston, MA
Founded
2005
Current Budget
$220,000
Geography & People Served
Children and families in Boston who are or have been connected to the foster care system, with an initial focus on Roxbury.
Website
www.treehousecommunities.org
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