Specifications include, but are not limited to: 1) Develop and maintain child profiles for adoption recruitment. Such profiles must include professional photographs, child summaries, and strength-based public narratives posted on the states Indiana's Waiting Children photolisting , an internal password protected portal for prepared adoptive families, and Adopt US Kids photolisting. Child profiles must remain current and updated at a minimum of every 12 months. 2) Manage and maintain a public-facing and password protected photo-listing of children waiting for permanent homes. 3) Schedule and host 7 child-focused adoption recruitment events to bring together families seeking to adopt and children waiting for families in a non-pressured environment. These events will be held throughout the state based on pre-determined super-regions. Please see the attached map for super-region locations. 4) Collaborate and plan/schedule events for child recruitment video production with providers and media representatives. 5) The contractor will participate in the planning, promotion, and support of statewide National Adoption Month (November) events and will partner with interested parties such as CASA, local attorneys, courts, and DCS local offices to celebrate adoptions that occur during National Adoption Month. Participation in National Adoption Month activities may vary based on region and specific needs of the local office. 6) The Adoption Recruitment vendor will collaborate with DCS Communications to identify families who have adopted during the year who may be interested in being interviewed or participating in a podcast, blog post, or other media efforts. Some families may be interviewed by the contractor and/or others by DCS Communications. The Adoption Contractor and DCS Communications may collaborate on other similar activities focused on celebrating adoption, especially adoptions of older youth, and raising awareness of the need for adoptive parents in Indiana. 7) The contractor must collaborate with community resources for outreach, including but not limited to, staff at local DCS offices, court personnel, foster parents, mental health agencies, and schools. This effort will be to increase the effectiveness of family recruitment without duplication of efforts. It will be important that the contractor work within the structure and consider the needs of each DCS region. 8) Minority Family Recruitment: The contractor will conduct outreach aimed at recruiting more families of color. Outreach activities could include, but are not limited to, advertising in local media targeted toward communities of color, pitching interviews and news to local media targeted toward communities of color, and conducting educational presentations at churches, civic organizations, and community groups each with a high percentage of membership of color. Materials should include child-specific aspects, so the membership sees actual children who are awaiting adoption in Indiana. 9) Special Needs Recruitment: The contractor will conduct outreach aimed at recruiting more families that can meet the need of hard-to-place children, such as those children with traumaresponse behaviors, mental health diagnoses, autism or other spectrum disorders, and developmental delays. 10) The contractor shall collaborate and coordinate adoption recruitment services for a seamless provision of services across Indiana.
