THE COMFORT OF LOVE.

You aren't a superhero. And that's ok.

Problem:
STL Partners had difficulty attracting foster parents who were willing to take children with elevated needs - which left vulnerable children without loving homes and created massive expenses at residential facilities. Messaging and branding were dated, and resources and processes were not foster-parent friendly. There was a sizeable gap between the love and commitment that foster parents expressed, and the stigma associated with foster parenting.

Solution:
Vario designed a research project to understand the foster parent decision-making journey and landscape. We pivoted messaging from “Be a superhero,” which was intimidating, to “Your love is big enough.” We also introduced more "parent-focused" and less "process-focused" language for staff, created a strategy to graduate parents into caring for kids with elevated needs, recommended streamlined processes, and released a website resource hub for prospective parents.

Results:
The website is now in the top 10 on google, the resource hub is an invaluable resource for prospective parents, and the organization has increased its relevance to interested parents. The streamlined processes and improved tracking have minimized parents falling through the cracks and increased staff response time. Most importantly, the new branding inspires, connects, and invites parents to learn more.