Foster families need more than good intentions — they need a team around them. Foster the City is a movement of churches working to ensure every child in foster care has a safe, loving home, and their free app is the digital hub that makes that community support possible.^1
Built for three roles — Foster Parents, Support Friends, and church Advocates — the app provides a shared calendar for coordinating practical help (including meals, childcare, yardwork, and errands), a prayer request wall for spiritual encouragement, in-app messaging to keep the team connected, and a curated resource library of podcasts, blogs, videos, and trainings on foster care topics. Support Friends can now proactively suggest ways to help, which Foster Parents review and approve before they become active requests. Family Profiles let foster families share details about their household and how their team can best support them, while Placements track important information about each child in their care.^2 Advocates get a dedicated dashboard showing onboarding progress, team composition, and support activity across their church ministry.^2
Foster the City partners with churches who align with the tenets of the Nicene Creed, and the coalition has grown to over 350 partner churches supporting more than 2,000 foster families and welcoming over 1,000 children into caring homes.^3 The app was developed by Echo.Church in San Jose, California, and is now available in both English and Spanish.^4
Why Christians Love It"Our Support Friend team was messaging and engaged in prayer over the FTC App — so powerful to ALL be connected there and on the same thread. Literally moments after foster mom posted a request for prayer in the messages, she got an email that her prayer was answered. PRAISE JESUS!" — Foster the City Support Friend^5
"I am super excited about the Foster the City App!! I have already gleaned so much… I love that all the resources are right at my finger tips!" — Foster the City Advocate^5
Notable- Over 350 partner churches across the movement, with one regional coalition (Foster the Bay) alone reaching 150 churches^6
- Advisory council includes leaders from CarePortal, Focus on the Family, the Christian Alliance for Orphans, and Feed the Children^7
- Featured in TIME as a church movement to give every child a home^8
- Recently added Support Friend suggestions, family profiles, placements, expanded request types, and a streamlined registration flow^2
- Spanish language support added May 2025^4
- The app is exclusive to churches that partner with Foster the City — individuals can get involved by attending an Interest Meeting^1
