About
We are the Family Defense Institute.
We build the tools, research and law that foster youth and the people around them need, and we fight to change the system that is failing them.
From the founder
Started at home.
I'm a foster parent. We have two biological children and three foster children at home, and more than a dozen children have lived with us over the last three years.
By day I'm a technology leader at an investment firm. I started building for foster families because the answers they needed were buried in policy manuals. That became Foster411. It also became clear that better tools alone wouldn't fix a system this broken, so the Institute does research and works on the law too.
Lucas Grohn, founder
Why "defense"
We defend children and families from a system that fails them.
In child welfare, "family defense" often means lawyers who represent parents. We use the word more broadly: we defend children and families with tools, evidence and law.
We work with anyone trying to do right by kids in foster care, including birth and foster parents, kinship caregivers, caseworkers, CASAs and agencies. When the system fails a child, we're on the child's side.
How we work
Build. Research. Change.
Three kinds of work that run at the same time and feed each other. See what's live now →
Build
Tools for everyone in the system, starting with Foster411.
Research
Public data and original research that show where it breaks.
Change
Analysis of the law now. Model legislation next.
Our rules
Every number has a source.
- We cite everything. Every number and quotation we publish links to its primary source and shows the date we checked it. If we can't source it, we don't publish it.
- We protect children's privacy. We never publish names, photos or identifying details of children in care, including those who have lived with our founder.
- We say what's true now. Plans are labeled as plans.
Governance
New, and building.
The Family Defense Institute is a nonprofit organization. Our 501(c)(3) application is in progress. We are founder-led, and our board is forming now.
We are not asking for donations yet. If you want to help, work with us or read and share what we publish.