When our Founder and Executive Director, Amber Knowles, started the organization, it came from a personal foster parenting journey paired with her medical background, which allowed her to identify gaps within the system. But identifying the gaps is just the diagnosis. Important, for sure. But thinking through complex solutions to a complex system is where meaningful work happens.
We started in 2018, and like every other organization working in the foster care system, we’ve adjusted and reframed parts of our work alongside an ever-changing system. Over the last year, we’ve put together a strategic plan built around our core priorities, all in hopes of continuing to make Houston a place where families heal and children thrive. Below are some of the challenges that we’re seeing and how Houston can come together to make a meaningful difference.
At the root of Houston’s foster care crisis are three deeply interconnected challenges.
1. Caregivers and professionals are not equipped with the trauma-informed tools needed to help children heal.
2. Support systems are fragmented and reactive, leaving families without coordinated, timely access to the help that already exists.
3. Thousands of churches are eager to help but lack a clear path to meaningful engagement.
These are not surface-level issues but structural gaps that keep families trapped in crisis. Addressing them is essential to shifting Houston’s foster care system from emergency response to strengthening families, preventing removals, and giving children the stability and resources they need to thrive.
Here’s how our team is working daily to solve each of these three problems:
Problem #1: Caregivers are unprepared to meet the needs of traumatized children.
“The best time to solve a problem is before it happens.”
DAN HEATH, UPSTREAM
Children in foster care often carry deep trauma, yet the adults entrusted with their care—foster parents, kinship caregivers, teachers, and caseworkers—are rarely equipped with the tools needed to promote healing.
Trauma-informed approaches like Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI®) help build trust, regulate behavior, and nurture secure attachment, but without these skills, trauma is often compounded rather than resolved.
Click here to learn about our TBRI® training offerings >>
A recent community needs assessment from Texas Children’s Hospital (2023) identified “limited access to trauma-informed care” as a critical gap in Houston’s child-serving systems. Trauma isn’t just emotional—it reshapes the brain and body. Children in foster care are twice as likely to experience PTSD as combat veterans (National Center for PTSD, 2005), yet many are cared for by well-meaning adults who lack the training to respond effectively.
This gap in knowledge among caregivers, educators, and frontline professionals perpetuates cycles of instability and prevents children from getting the consistent, connected care they need to heal and thrive.
Problem #2: Families fall through the cracks in a disconnected system.
“Fragmentation is the enemy of transformation.”
DAN ERLICHMAN, IMPACT NETWORKS
Houston is home to more than 38,000 nonprofits, government agencies, churches, and community groups, many working tirelessly to support vulnerable children and families. Yet without shared infrastructure, these efforts often operate in silos, making it harder for families to access timely, coordinated help.
In Harris County, 1 in 5 families with children under 18 live below the federal poverty line (Children at Risk, 2023), and poverty remains the strongest predictor of child welfare involvement. In fact, 75% of child welfare cases in Texas are due to neglect, most often tied to economic hardship and social disconnection rather than abuse. When families lack essential services and relationships, small crises quickly escalate.
Despite the abundance of support, caseworkers are often left to navigate this complexity alone. National data shows they spend 60 to 70% of their time on case-related tasks, but only 20 to 35% in direct contact with families or partners. The rest is lost to meetings, paperwork, and disconnected systems that delay real help. The result is unmet needs, idle resources, and families falling through the cracks.
The system is not failing for lack of compassion, but for lack of coordination.
Problem #3: Churches want to help but often don’t know how.
“Moving toward hard places isn’t just what we do. In light of the gospel, it’s who we are, because that’s who Jesus has been for us.”
JASON JOHNSON
Houston is home to over 3,000 Christian churches, many filled with people who care deeply about their city. Pastors witness the pain of family instability. Congregants hear stories of children entering foster care.
Yet most churches remain on the sidelines—not because they don’t care, but because they don’t know where to begin. National research shows that nearly 2 out of 3 Americans want churches to be more involved in supporting vulnerable children and families (CAFO, 2025), but many assume they need a program or ministry to get started.
The truth is that programs don’t change people—people do. And churches are uniquely positioned to offer what families in crisis need most: consistent, trustworthy, healing relationships.
Still, a barrier holds many back. 38% of people say they’re not involved simply because they believe they “don’t have anything meaningful to offer” (CAFO, 2025). That’s nearly four out of every ten people in a typical Sunday service who are willing to help, but unsure how. While they wait for the right moment or the perfect ministry to launch, families in their own neighborhoods fall through the cracks.
There’s not a lack of compassion, but a lack of connection.
How We’re Addressing These Problems
In response to these problems, we have identified three integrated and mutually reinforcing strategic priorities, which are essential to the work of system transformation.
- Mobilize the Church – We believe the local church is uniquely positioned to bring about redemption within its neighborhoods. But willing hearts often need clear on-ramps. That’s why we walk alongside congregations to help them move to action. Whether it’s equipping members to serve vulnerable families, hosting training in trauma-informed care, or launching tangible outreach initiatives, we’re helping churches become safe, supportive spaces for healing.
- Strengthen the family – When families are strengthened, placements stabilize, stress decreases, and children experience lasting connection. Families are the front line of healing for children who have experienced trauma. But too often they’re navigating this journey alone. Through TBRI® training and our Response Network, we ensure that families are supported with the tools, connections, and community they need to thrive.
- Unite the community – Houston’s foster care challenges are too complex for any one organization to solve alone. Real change requires alignment across systems, sectors, and communities. That’s why we work to break down silos and build strong networks between child welfare agencies, nonprofits, schools, healthcare providers, and churches. By connecting these efforts, we create a proactive, coordinated response that reaches families before crisis and surrounds them with lasting support.
Ever since The Riverside Project was founded in 2018, we’ve been working every day to create meaningful change for vulnerable children and families in Houston. As we look ahead to the next five years, we have a clear vision for how to deepen that impact.
We’ve identified that one of the most effective ways to serve our city is by growing inward and downward. In practice, that means transitioning to a regional model with locally embedded teams who can build trust, respond quickly, and cultivate lasting relationships within the communities they serve.
Will you partner with us to make this work possible?
This plan outlines multiple ways you can participate in this transformation—by funding a regional launch, sustaining a team, or sponsoring key roles that walk alongside families, churches, and community partners every day.