Learn about the 2026 Innovative Recruitment and Retention Strategies Summit

The Colorado Department of Human Services’ Office of Children, Aging and Community Services and the National Center for Diligent Recruitment hosted a two-day foster care Recruitment & Retention Summit on April 15 and 16, 2026. Over 100 county, Child Placement Agency, and community partners across the state gathered to learn effective strategies for recruiting and retaining foster parents. Local and national leaders shared their expertise. The training included a keynote address by foster care advocate Lizzie Guyberson and a «Living Experts Panel» featuring young adults with foster care experience and current foster parents. 

Attendees rotated through five cohort workshops that provided practical tools. These workshops covered strategies for leveraging data for recruitment wins, specialized recruitment for youth with unmet complex needs, challenging recruitment assumptions, building equitable wraparound systems, and focused targeted recruitment roundtables for child-specific adoption and ICWA preferred homes. The event concluded with an interactive plenary session where attendees developed «90-Day Game Plan» strategies for implementation in their communities.

Here is what attendees had to say:

“I loved hearing that we need to develop our passion and focus on that knowing that we can’t do it all,” Lindsay Armstrong, A New World.

“Ross was a great speaker and we left with some tangible tips to aid in our recruitment,” Broomfield County foster care staff. 

“I enjoyed learning about the ICWA piece. We had a really good discussion,” Melissa Van Kooten, Larimer County DHS. 

“I loved the networking aspect. There are a lot of people here I know but there are a lot of people I don’t know too,” Jessica Condra, Hope and Home.

“In The Missing Piece. I learned that if a kid has one caseworker, they are 74% likely to return home and if they have two caseworkers, it drops to 10%. That really stuck with me,” Cullen King, El Paso County.

“I really loved hearing from Lizzie who was in foster care. Her message was really powerful and I enjoyed hearing her thoughts about what makes a good foster parent,” Natalie King, Adam’s County.

“It’s been great to see people from throughout the state in person and make those in-person connections,” Julie Rudley, Weld County.

“One of the panelists said something about how education and money doesn’t equate to a better placement and that really stuck out to me,” Beverly Toliver, SAFY.

“I learned the importance of knowing your numbers, numbers don’t lie and they will tell you a lot about where you need to make improvements to recruit and retain families. Just allowing the data to drive your practice,” Tawanna French, Denver County.

“It’s been really beneficial to hear from lived experts and other professionals in the field because it’s allowed me to feel reinvigorated in the work and bring new ideas to the agency,” Ellie Payant, SAFY.

Thank you to everyone who attended. We encourage all 100+ county, Child Placement Agency, and community partners who convened over the last two days to immediately put their «90-Day Game Plan» strategies into action in their respective communities. Let’s move forward, reinvigorated, and make tangible progress in recruiting and retaining the families our youth deserve. 

Check out photos from the summit.