Department of Family & Children Services Aging Out of Foster Care website

  • New GARYSE website homepage
State of Georgia website for kids aging out of foster care

Category: Web Design

Industry: Non-Profits

Client: State of Georgia
Project Description

This GARYSE (which stands for "Georgia Resilient. Youth Centered. Stable. Empowered.") project for the State of Georgia Department of Family & Children Services (DFCS) is for their young adults who are aging out of foster care. This website outlines the programs available to them. While this website is currently a work-in-progress, we're hoping it will be completed by the end of 2022. We wanted to share it – even thought it isn't completely finished – because it's a project we're proud of.

We're lucky to be working with the State of Georgia's Department of Family & Children Services for many years, and this is just another of the dozens of projects we've worked together on.

Our introduction to DFCS Georgia was through one of our favorite people, Lisa Lumpe. She is one of the folks making the world a better place by working with the State of Georgia placing foster kids for many years. The other person dedicated to helping these young adults transfer out of foster care to independence is the wonderful Candis Jones. Candis is the person in charge of this effort for the State of Georgia, and an absolute delight to work with.

Using video to enhance the story behind GARYSE

We've been incorporating video in recent websites because it tells a story: more than still images do. And diversity is an important part of that story. The video "above-the-fold" on this homepage represents what young adults go through when venturing out of the State of Georgia foster care system. Granted, we used stock video, because the state needs to protect the identities of the young adults.

Interactive map of the State of Georgia

One of the critical elements of this website is to connect the young adults with the resource specialists who help guide them through their transition. To do that, we were tasked with creating an interactive map, which you can see here.

GARYSE interactive mapThat map has two drop down menus, one if they know the region they live in, and one that lists the county they live in. Either one gets them to the Regional Specialist who works with the young adults in their area. You can see the specialists' page here.

Regional specialists page from GARYSE websiteTo learn more about how we can work together on your non-profit ot state website, contact us today.