Duke Endowment awards $3.7M grant to battle NC foster care ‘crisis’

Charlotte-based Duke Endowment on Wednesday announced a $3.7 million, four-year grant to help a Greensboro-based provider of foster care and adoption services extend its reach.

The funding for Children’s Home Society of North Carolina will allow the group to expand its services and battle the state’s foster care “crisis,” according to a press release.

“Last year, we were able to place only 12 percent of the children referred to us,” Brian Maness, CEO of Children’s Home Society of North Carolina, said in a statement. “We need to increase public awareness of the foster care crisis and expand our capacity of adoptive and foster homes for children.”

Maness said foster care in North Carolina increased every month in 2016 compared with the same months in 2015. At the end of last year, 10,524 children were in foster care in the state, with about 2,400 children eligible for adoption, according to CHS.

“A child without a family is unacceptable,” Maness said. “Every child deserves a loving, safe and permanent home.”

Founded in 1902, Children’s Home Society said it serves more than 20,000 children and families in all 100 of North Carolina’s counties. Services include adoption, foster care, parenting education, family preservation and teen pregnancy prevention. CHS says more than 15,000 children have been adopted through the group.

Phil Redmond, director of Duke Endowment’s child care program area, said in a statement the grant will help “vulnerable children lead more successful lives.”

This story was originally published January 25, 2017 at 4:59 PM with the headline "Duke Endowment awards $3.7M grant to battle NC foster care ‘crisis’."