Using this site safely

We point you to help — we usually are not the help

Help Foster Youth is an information and referral site. We gather information about programs and organizations and show you where to find them. With very few exceptions, we do not run the programs listed here, we do not decide who qualifies, and we cannot approve or deny anyone. The organization you contact does that.

You do not need an account, and you do not need to tell us who you are

There is no sign-up, no profile and no login. Searching by ZIP code is enough. A ZIP code describes a general area — it does not tell us your name or where you live.

Please do not send us details like your full address, where you are placed, your foster care case or court information, your Social Security number or other ID numbers, medical records, your school or daily schedule, photos of yourself, or anything else that could identify you or show someone where to find you. We do not need any of it to help you find resources, and we would rather you keep it private. If we ever add a feature that truly needs some of that information, we will say so clearly and explain how it is protected first.

We will never contact you because you searched

Your privacy matters. Help Foster Youth will never email, call, text, or otherwise contact you because you searched for help on this website. If you choose to contact an organization listed here, that organization may communicate with you according to its own policies. Help Foster Youth does not share your information with those organizations simply because you searched for resources.

We do not connect adults with youth privately

Help Foster Youth does not match individual adults with individual foster youth, and there is no messaging, chat or private contact feature on this site. Adults who want to mentor, foster, volunteer, help through a church, or give something go through the organization or program that runs it — and those programs handle their own applications, background checks, training and supervision. That screening exists to protect you, and we are not a way around it.

Never meet someone from the internet because they say they want to help you

If an adult contacts you online and offers money, a place to stay, a gift, a job or a “mentorship” outside of a real program, treat that as a warning sign — no matter how kind they sound, and even if they mention this site. Real help comes through an agency or program you can look up and call. Talk to your caseworker, your CASA/GAL, your attorney or another trusted adult before you agree to meet anyone.

If you need help with your own situation

If you are in care right now and something about your placement, safety, housing or health needs to change, the fastest path is a person who is already assigned to you: your caseworker, your attorney or law guardian, your CASA/GAL, an independent living worker, or another adult you trust. We cannot act on your case, but the agencies listed on this site can.

If you are in danger right now

If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 911. You can also use the free, confidential lines below at any hour.

Double-check before you count on it

Programs change — funding runs out, waitlists open and close, age limits and paperwork get updated. We review listings and show when we last checked, but a review date is not a promise that a program is still running or that you will qualify. Always confirm eligibility, availability and what you need to bring directly with the program before you rely on it.

See the Resource Disclaimer for more, and the Privacy Policy for what happens with technical information like a page request.

Something wrong or unsafe here?

If a listing is out of date, or if an organization on this site treated you badly, we want to know. Contact us — and please leave out personal details about yourself or another young person when you write. If a child is being harmed, contact your state child abuse hotline or call 911 first.