Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation

AFFCF believes, and research confirms, that “if any children can benefit from extracurricular activities, it is children in foster care.” When children have the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities, they expand their world, learn new skills, and build social skills – something that most foster children have been unable to experience. In order to enrich more lives of children in foster care in Arizona,, AFFCF’s strategic goal for 2020 is to fund more than 10,000 awards to serve more than 5,250 children.

AFFCF's Keys to Success program was created in 2014 to increase positive outcomes for youth ages 16 - 24, who are transitioning out of Arizona’s foster care system. For these youth, who have no family and little, if any, community support, it is essential to provide them with assistance to learn to navigate the world as an independent adult. By providing supportive career development services, including education, employment, and personal/independent living goals, AFFCF is able to empower these youth to discover their potential and create a pathway to their future.

Only 20% of youth transitioning from foster care enroll in a higher education program, even though 85% aspire to attend. AFFCF's Post-Secondary Scholarship program provides a financial resource for students who were in foster care at the time they turned 18 years of age. The primary criterion is that the applicant was a ward of the State of Arizona when they turned 18 years of age, that is, the student was not adopted, awarded legal guardianship or reunited with his/her biological parents prior to aging out of the Department of Child Safety’s care. Applicants who have signed the voluntary agreement with DCS past their 18th birthday are also eligible. Scholarships are available for a total of 10 semesters and are renewable on a semester-by-semester basis. Four-year college/university applicants are eligible to receive awards up to $5,000 per calendar year ($2,500 per semester). To be eligible for the maximum four-year college/university award ($2,500 per semester), students must have and maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5. Four-year college/university applicants with cumulative GPAs between 2.0 and 2.5 are eligible to receive $2,000 per calendar year ($1,000 per semester). Community college applicants are eligible to receive awards up to $2,000 per calendar year ($1,000 per semester).

The AFFCF Penson Fund is designed to help young men and women who have aged out of foster care overcome emergency expenses, such as car repair or rent assistance, that derail their education. These funds are not intended to be used for long-term, ongoing expenses.

Keys to Financial Success is a program that prepares youth aging out of foster care how to build a financial foundation, that will prepare them to be financially independent. We teach them the basics of budgeting, banking, credit, investing, how to avoid predatory lending and protect their identity.

By necessity, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to helping children in foster care. AFFCF's strategy is to offer an array of experiences and opportunities that the child's caregivers (and the child himself or herself, if old enough) can select from to meet the needs of the child in question. We seek out partnerships with service providers (sports leagues, dance studios, tutoring vendors, etc.) to provide discounted rates for children in foster care.

Youth preparing to leave foster care need focused career exploration, education assistance, employability skills building and work-based learning experiences. The Keys to Success Program can help to fill this gap by providing youth with the career planning, education and employment services that leads them to discover their potential and a pathway to successful adulthood by achieving education, employment, personal, and independent living goals. We partner with other organizations who serve youth aging out of foster care, as well as with local employers.

AFFCF also seeks out collaboration with other foster care organizations in Arizona, foster care licensing agencies, the Department of Child Safety, Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) and other foster care stakeholders, as well as civic organizations in Arizona to reach as many foster families as possible to let them know help is available.

AFFCF keeps overhead to a minimum by using an Internet-based model for applications. Anyone in the child's life (or the child himself or herself, if old enough) can go to AFFCF's website (affcf.org) and fill out an application. If the application meets AFFCF's criteria, the application will be granted. In its more than 38 years of operation, AFFCF has never failed to grant an application that fell within its guidelines. For example, if a foster parent wants to get a child into an activity, such as karate, the foster parent would complete the online application, which is reviewed by AFFCF, and (if all criteria are met), granted within 7 - 10 days. A check made payable to the vendor (in this case, a karate school) is then cut by AFFCF and sent to the caregiver listed on the application, who then takes the check to the vendor and pays for the karate classes without the expense coming out of pocket. This model lets AFFCF serve children all over Arizona (including rural and remote areas) without the expense of maintaining warehouses or staffing multiple offices.

Keys to Success participants work with a professional team who help them identify short and long-term career goals, prepare for and secure employment, as well as identify and complete education or training that aligns with their current and future career plans. Participants also are connected to partnering organizations that provide additional services or resources required to create opportunities and eliminate barriers to career and life success.

Applications for AFFCF's Post-Secondary Scholarship are accepted every June and November (prior to the fall and spring semesters). The initial application process includes writing a personal essay and getting one letters of recommendation, preferably an academic recommendation. Once a student is accepted into the program, he or she can renew the scholarship for up to a total of 10 semesters of undergraduate study.

The Penson fund is an emergency fund for youth that provides assistance while they continue to advance their
studies. There are several categories that are especially helpful to students such as auto repair, laptop and other school supplies. Students who are enrolled in a certificate (vocational) program and need assistance can apply for tuition assistance of up to $1,000 through the Penson Fund.

The Keys to Financial Success program is a financial literacy course for youth aging out of foster care, ages 16 to 24. We understand the youth we serve come to us with very varying financial skills and needs. To meet each youth where they are at that moment, our volunteer financial coaches to work one-on-one with the youth on organizing their spending, creating budgets, understanding credit, banking, predatory lending traps and protecting identity. Once the youth completes the class and save $1,000 over a three to 12-month period, AFFCF matches that $1,000, in hopes it will provide an emergency fund to cushion any unexpected expenses.

Although AFFCF provides goods and services to thousands of children in foster care every year, we still do not touch most of the children in foster care in the state, especially in rural areas. In an effort to change this, AFFCF is reaching out and speaking to different groups across the state, to generate awareness of AFFCF and encouraging more applications for assistance for children in foster care.

AFFCF also maintains a foster care-centric directory of organizations that assist children in foster care and their families, in an effort to increase awareness of the resources already available, and to start a discussion in the foster care community over how all members of that community can work together to serve children in foster care. If we can't help, we can point the caregiver to another agency that can.

At the beginning of each year, AFFCF reviews the requests we received in the prior year to see what applications submitted did not fall into our guidelines. Based on the data we find, along with caregiver input, AFFCF adjusts our funding guidelines, to expand or further refine our funding guidelines.

Though the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed considerably, many foster families still struggle financially. For the third consecutive year, AFFCF has brought back our Save My Summer award category that provides one-time requests for items and activities to keep children engaged and active during the summer break. Items AFFCF purchased include slip n' slides, arts and crafts activities, lawn games and more.

The holidays can be especially difficult for foster families. With special funding, AFFCF has been able to provide a $100 gift card to pay for special foods, holiday gifts and other items to help make the holidays a little easier for foster families.