AUSTIN (Nexstar) – An Austin nonprofit has just launched a new app that aims to improve high turnover rates among adoptive parents and social workers across the state.
As we’ve reported before, there are a lot of problems within the foster care system here in Texas, which puts a lot of stress on everyone involved.
Destiny Bowers and her family welcomed an adoptive baby just over a year ago. Keeping up with all the paperwork was not easy.
“It was intimidating and confusing, and they would come back to you saying, ‘Oh, you have to add this,'” Bowers said.
Now she and her family are among the first to try out the “Fostershare” app.
“We normally have to be a lot more thorough with the paperwork,” Bowers said. “But now this app is much faster. It takes 30 seconds to one minute to complete every day.
Miracle Foundation — a Central Texas nonprofit that helps children in real need — said it worked to create the app after finding that 60% of adoptive parents waived their obligations during of the first year. According to the foundation, 90% of agencies also struggle to keep social workers.
“We did this to reduce the impact on children because they bounce from family to family, and we want to stabilize that,” said Leslie Beasley, CEO of Miracle Foundation.
Required documents, including daily journaling and shared calendars, are all in one place on this app, making coordination even easier. It is accessible on your phone or computer.
“One of the things this app does is it has red flag technology that relays important information to the social worker,” Beasley said.
The Miracle Foundation says it conducted a 3-month beta test at some of Texas’ top agencies, showing the app improves the process for families and social workers
“It just helps you be more organized,” Bowers said.
There are already more than 1,000 people using this app, Miracle Foundation said.
The nonprofit estimates that more than 100 agencies and about 3,500 families will use the app over the next year.
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