December 04, 2019 – St. Louis, Missouri – Ian Forber-Pratt, a Distinguished Alumnus from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and a graduate from Principia College, and his team have received a grant from a private donor to formally launch the Institute for Child Welfare Innovation. The Institute is a spin-off 501c3 from the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition in St Louis, Missouri.
The Institute will work nationally on three things: 1. replicate and scale programs for the most vulnerable of children, 2. bring together practitioners to learn from each other, and 3. bridge the gaps between policy and practice in the child welfare field. The Institute’s vision is to see a child welfare system that is kind, efficient, collaborative, evidence-based and centered on children & family well-being.
With a plan to quickly expand the team, the Institute will launch with Ms. Melanie Moredock, Director of Program Replication and Mr. Patrick Pisani, Assistant Director of Program Replication.
“After a decade of work in global child protection, I am grateful to join hands with others as the United States completely re-boots the child welfare system” – Ian Forber-Pratt, Executive Director, Institute for Child Welfare Innovation
The idea for the Institute originated with the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition, a 30 year old St. Louis-based organization helping children in foster care find permanency. For eight years, the Coalition’s 30 Days to Family® program had successfully placed kids with families, with substantial cost savings to taxpayers.
As sites across the nation expressed interest in replicating our program, the opportunity for scale outgrew the Coalition’s mission to serve families in St. Louis; we were at a positive impasse. After exhaustive research we decided to launch a separate independent entity that will give greater longevity, and impact, spreading positive and intentional innovation in the child welfare field. – Melanie Scheetz, Executive Director, Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition
The Institute’s office is located at 1750 S Brentwood Blvd., Suite 210. St Louis, MO 63144.
Reach Ian at ian@instituteforchildwelfare.org or +1.314.367.8373 or stopping by to visit!