Skookum Kids, a not-for-profit organisation based in the USA, runs The Landing. The Landing is an emergency shelter for children entering foster care for the first time. Set up as a traditional homely environment, children typically remain here for 72 hours, allowing their situation to stabilise in a calming, secure environment at a critical juncture. It also provides crucial time for social workers to be able to find the right home to meet the needs of the child, whether it be across their kin network or with a foster family. The homes are staffed primarily by trained volunteers, often with other full-time jobs. This includes those who are keen to foster permanently but their own housing situation makes this difficult, getting more people from across the community involved in caring for vulnerable children.
There are currently two homes open as part of The Landing, offering care to hundreds of children every year. It is estimated that the cost of running this initiative is just one fifth of comparable group care facilities. Findings from an evaluation of this approach indicate that children who are placed in these homes are more likely to be housed alongside a sibling during their temporary placement and were more likely to be placed with a relative in their next placement. It also suggests that where a child or young person was housed in a similar centre, the foster carer who goes on to look after them is more likely than other similar foster carers to retain their fostering license as time goes on. The evaluation does not suggest an impact on the number of placements or the time spent in fostering for a child who is initially placed in one of these homes compared to a child who is not. In the context of widespread challenges with placement sufficiency and stability, The Landing offers an innovative solution to making sure children entering care are appropriately supported by the right carers, both in the short-term and the longer term.