An App for Foster Youth by Foster Youth
FosterFerret
As part of RCOE's Foster Youth Success Initiative, the FosterFerret app was designed through a year-long collaborative project focusing on the voices and needs of foster youth at every step. From secure document storage to wellness check-ins and essential resources, this innovative support platform offers simple, intuitive tools that remove barriers and put students in control.
FosterFerret is designed to work hand in hand with counties, districts, and caregivers in California to ensure foster youth are supported in real time. Once a student enrolls, selected county or organization designees play a vital role in connecting them to the platform’s tools and features, such as The Vault, The Check-In, The Burrow, The Notebook, and The Diploma Pro.
Digital Vault
Essential documents. Always within reach.
The Vault is a secure digital space where foster youth can store critical records such as birth certificates, school transcripts, IEPs, and other important files. Only the youth have access, making personal preparedness simple and safe.
The Live Notebook
Answers without barriers.
The Notebook is an AI-powered assistant built into FosterFerret. It allows foster youth to ask questions about school, jobs, applications, housing, and more—receiving instant, trustworthy answers at any time.
The Wellness Check-In
A weekly wellness pulse.
The Check-In feature gives foster youth a consistent space to reflect on how they’re doing. Through brief, confidential surveys, the system alerts caseworkers when a student may need extra support, promoting early intervention and care.
The Burrow Shop
Access to essentials, made easy.
The Burrow is an app-based shop where foster youth can use Ferret Funds to request school supplies, personal care items, and more. Deliveries are discreetly routed to their school, eliminating delays and removing approval bottlenecks.
The Diploma Pro
Graduation your way, wherever you are.
The Diploma Pro analyzes an uploaded transcript within minutes using one-of-a-kind tech built exclusively for FosterFerret.
When necessary, the County experts can recommend an alternative path such as 100% online or offer a word of encouragement to the traditional finish line!
FosterFerret Kids
For caregivers of foster youth.
For foster youth in early childhood, birth to 13 years old, FosterFerret Kids is the caregiver platform that is intentionally designed to be caregiver-led with child participation as age-appropriate.
Adults manage records, routines, care plans, and daily logistics to create stability and continuity using the infrastructure and intelligence of the FosterFerret system.
Foster Youth Lead the Design of FosterFerret
By Cheryl Flores
Riverside County Foster Youth Student Advisory Panel Member
FosterFerret wasn’t born out of some perfectly thought-out plan. It started the way a lot of things in foster care do…unexpectedly. I was one of fourteen foster youth invited by the Riverside County Office of Education to serve on a student advisory panel. Week after week, we talked about college, careers, housing…about futures we were expected to prepare for. Somewhere along the way, the conversations shifted. We started talking about our actual lives. What we needed. What we couldn’t find. What we wished existed. That led to a simple question…What would this look like if it actually existed?
During a three-day in-person meeting, after hours of discussing what a resource platform for foster youth should look like, we were asked to name it. We shared ideas, debated, and then one student casually mentioned how much she loved ferrets. That was it. No symbolism. No deeper meaning. Just Foster… Ferret. It fit. It made us laugh. I didn’t think the adults would actually approve it…and I didn’t expect it to turn into anything real. But it did. When I later became an intern and saw the platform taking shape, it finally hit me…FosterFerret wasn’t just a conversation anymore. Decisions foster youth made were becoming real designs, real features, real plans.
At its core, FosterFerret exists because of one shared reality…survival. I know what it’s like to dread going home after school, to carry more than you should have to at a young age, and to face endless unanswered questions. Constant uncertainty can crush hope…and make giving up feels like the only option. But foster youth don’t just survive the system…we shape it.
FosterFerret stands for something bigger. Nothing about us, without us.