Gordon Johnson (child welfare advocate)
Gordon Johnson is the Founder, President and CEO of Neighbor To Family, Inc., a not-for-profit foster care organization whose mission is keeping siblings together.
Johnson was born in 1933 in Long Branch, New Jersey. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Sociology/Psychology 1958 from Thiel College, Greenville, Pennsylvania, and a master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling in 1963 from Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania.
Career
Johnson began his career in 1959 as a cottage officer at New Jersey State Home for Boys and rose through the ranks in child welfare agencies in Pennsylvania, New York and Florida.
In 1979 Johnson was named Deputy Director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services under Director Gregory Coler and Governor Big Jim Thompson. In 1983, Johnson was appointed Director of DCFS, taking over responsibility for programs serving 600,000 children and families, including 50,000 foster children.
Separation of Siblings in Foster Care
During his tenure, Johnson was deeply troubled by the sight of children being taken from their parents because of abuse or neglect, arriving in police cars at a state shelter, dragging their toys and clothes in black garbage bags, and then being further traumatized by being taken away from their brothers and sisters because few foster homes could accommodate sibling groups. In many cases, the separation was permanent as the children were adopted by different families.
Sibling Foster Care Model
Johnson left DCFS in 1990 to become President of the Jane Adams Hull House Association in Chicago. There, in 1994, he developed the “Neighbor To Neighbor” sibling foster care program, with these basic elements:
- Sibling groups are placed together in a single foster home;
- Birth parents are supported while being held accountable for their children;
- The role of foster caregivers is more professionalized, with an enhanced room and board rate, benefits, extensive training and 24/7 staff support;
- Involving, and being accountable to, funding agencies;
- Planning for reunification or permanency is a team effort involving the parents, foster caregivers, staff, family, friends and the community.
The Neighbor To Neighbor program attracted national attention in child welfare circles, and in 1998 Johnson was invited by Florida child welfare officials and Florida State Representative Evelyn J. Lynn to bring the program to Daytona Beach, Florida, where it was founded as Neighbor To Family.
Growth of Neighbor To Family
Neighbor To Family continues to expand, and now operates programs in several states and is one of the largest foster care providers in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Programs include:
- Duvall, Flagler, Hardee, Highlands, Polk, Putnam, and Volusia counties in Florida;
- Barrow, Carroll, Chatham, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fulton, Gwinnett, Hall, Henry, Richmond and Rockdale counties in Georgia;
- Baltimore, Maryland; and,
- Charleston County, South Carolina.
References
- The California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC) has rated The Neighbor To Family Sibling Foster Care Model program: Scientific Rating: 3-Promising Research Evidence; Child Welfare Relevance Level-High.
- 2010 Evidence-based research: Neighbor To Family – Supporting Sibling Groups in Foster Care, Formative and Efficacy Evaluation by Jim Rast, Ph.D.
- Neighbor To Family, An Innovative Approach to Foster Care, Amended Evaluation Report, April 17, 2003 by The Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida in cooperation with the Florida Department of Children and Families.
- Neighbor To Family, Keepings Siblings Together-Professionalized Foster Care, Program Evaluation, University of Central Florida, September 30, 2002
External links
- Neighbor To Family official website
- Purpose Prize website, Gordon Johnson bio, agency profile, video
- Neighbor to Family - Annual Reports
- Neighbor to Family - Wikipedia page