The Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition in St. Louis, Missouri got inspired by the show Extreme Makeovers and thought, why not “extreme recruitment” for youth in foster care?
Thus, Extreme Recruitment was created. In Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, a house is build in a week through the efforts of professionals and volunteers working together to build a house for a family in need. Inspired, Melanie Scheetz, Executive Director of Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition, thought professionals and volunteers could work together to quickly find permanence for childen in foster care.
The Extreme Recruitment model focuses on a 12-20 week intensive plan to place children considered “hard to place” – children with special needs, older children and youth (10-18 years), children of color and sibling groups.
So far almost 70% of the youth involved in the Extreme Recruitment program in 2012 were matched with a permanent family. If you are interested in learning more about Extreme Recruitment, you can download their Toolbox and learn more about how Extreme Recruitment is done at their website.
You can also learn more by reading this feature in Time Magazine and watch this video below.
