You know when you hear about some new start-up company or a new invention, and you wonder Why didn’t someone think of this before?
Well, that’s exactly how I felt when I read about Thea Ramirez and Family-Match.org. We are forever hearing about the need for foster parents, for people who will adopt older children and sibling groups, and for ways to help kids who are aging out of the system. It’s an ongoing problem, presumably with few solutions. Until now. Ramirez is a social worker who teamed up with a couple of brilliant mathematicians to create algorithms that will match foster kids with families. And the program will match families in a scientific way that will help ensure stability and longevity for the children in their homes.
With the human factor weighing in to all the current foster and foster-to-adopt situations, there is too much failure because of unforeseen problems. Family-Match.org will take most of those variables out of the picture and will be the means of stabilizing life for the thousands of foster children in the United States.
The pilot program just launched in Virginia, the state that is ranked #48 in finding adoptive parents for their foster children. Take a look at the full news story here. And if you have the ability, consider contributing financially to the program to help push it along so we can care for our children in the best ways possible!
