QPI is an approach adopted by a network of sites who share information and ideas about how to improve parenting as well as recruit and retain excellent foster families. It is an effort to rebrand foster care, not simply by changing a logo or an advertisement but by changing the agency’s expectations of and support for caregivers and the caregivers’ expectations of the agency. Participating child welfare systems commit to fully supporting excellent parenting by putting first the needs of the child for strong relationships.

The key elements of the QPI approach are: 

• Defining the expectations of and by caregivers,
• Clearly communicating these expectations to all staff, caregivers, and other stakeholders, as well as the general public, and
• Aligning system policy and practice with those expectations

All stakeholders in each jurisdiction must work together to reshape their culture, practices, and policies; encourage active and meaningful communication; build relationships among birth families, relative caregivers, foster families, youth, and the child welfare agency; and ensure that children have access to the childhood and teenage experiences that will help them heal, grow, and flourish.

When QPI is successful, caregivers have a voice. Birth and foster families work together as a team with agency staff and other stakeholders to develop consensus about a definition of excellent parenting. Caregivers receive the support and training they need to work with children and families, to understand what is expected of them, and to know what to expect from the system. Agencies are then able to select and retain enough excellent caregivers to meet each child’s needs for a home and family.

QPI works to refocus child welfare systems and help kin, foster, and other resource families become expert parents—to help them become professionals in parenting. When these changes are accomplished, outcomes for children, youth, and families improve.