Quality Parenting Initiative

Foster care is an imperfect system, often criticized for its failures, bureaucratic inefficiencies, and poverty and racial bias, leading to the harmful and unnecessary removal of children from their homes, disproportionately from homes of poor families of color.

When Ohio mom China Darrington lost custody of her child 14 years ago it turned her life upside down. Little did she know that experience would one day lead her to mentoring other parents who’d lost their children to the child welfare system and partnering with foster parents as well.

In 2017, California began implementing statewide reforms of its foster care system, a sprawling initiative designed to reduce the role of group homes and rely more heavily on relatives and foster homes.

Minnesota is launching an initiative to strengthen foster care experiences for children by focusing on improving parenting skills. Thirteen organizations in the state, including Aspire MN and St. David’s Center for Child and Family Development, are working together to bring the Quality Parenting Initiative (QPI) to the state.

Thomas leans over his computer putting the final touches on 40 hours of paperwork that encapsulates weeks of thoughtful dialog with his partner, Brett.* Finally, they have completed their applications to become foster parents.