*All templates and scripts serve as an example only. All information provided and connections contacted must be approved by the custodial agency.
These templates were created to potentially enhance your agency’s current templates, and to get those creative juices flowing when you're ready for engagement. Please feel free to use one or all of our templates, or even just bits and pieces. Also, mix and match! If you like a letter template feel free to use it for emails and vice versa, etc... Basically do whatever you want with them! They are yours now.
There are two or three examples of phone scripts, Letters, emails, and social media outreach. Each one gets progressively more compelling for those relatives and connections that are hesitant and may not have responded to previous outreach attempts.
Note: If you are looking for adoptive homes for the youth, our templates suggest not to ask relatives and connections to adopt the youth during the first outreach engagement even if the primary plan for the youth is adoption. The term adoption can be overwhelming and triggering for some people and the hope is not to have potential supporters of the youth shut down during your first contact with them. Please follow your agency's policies and procedures about when and how to ask potential relatives and connections to adopt the youth.
Of course, with any scenario, we suggest following their lead...if they ask about adoption definitely talk about it!
We do, however, suggest talking about ALL the different types of support the relative or connection can offer during this first contact which includes placement into their home. Listing several options tends to be less overwhelming for the relatives and connections by giving them autonomy over their potential role with the youth.