Built with foster youth, for foster youth.
The Journey to FosterFerret
Riverside County Office of Education recognizes that Foster Youth face systemic barriers that consistently lead to lower educational outcomes than their peers. Intentional action is needed NOW to ensure that they have the support, stability, and opportunities they deserve to succeed.
To address these disparities, the Riverside County Office of Education launched the Foster Youth Success Initiative during the 2024-2025 school year, focusing on helping foster students transition from surviving to thriving.
Designed through a year-long collaborative project led by the Riverside County Office of Education, FosterFerret is an innovative support platform that centers the voices and needs of foster youth every step of the way. From secure document storage to wellness check-ins and essential resources, it offers simple, intuitive tools that remove barriers and put students in control.
This initiative is rooted in Riverside County, but FosterFerret's mission is much bigger than one county. Under the leadership of Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Edwin Gomez, and the RCOE team, it is the goal that Riverside County create a solution that meets Foster Youth's needs throughout California and beyond.
It is with this goal in mind that RCOE contracted with an expert designer and AI application developer to bring the vision of FosterFerret to life in 2025-2026. It is this kind of thoughtful leadership and collaborative effort that make FosterFerret a beacon project for County Offices of Education; an intuitive and safe tool that can be embraced and launched for their own Foster Youth.
How FosterFerret Works
FosterFerret uses intuitive, AI-powered technology to solve longstanding challenges in the foster care and education systems—bringing clarity, connection, and consistency to student support.
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—like The Vault, The Check-In, The Burrow, and The Notebook, and The Diploma Pro.
Through this collaboration, students can be matched to services provided by Riverside County Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) or other trusted community-based organizations. Whether a student needs help with basic necessities, educational supports, or wellness check-ins, school personnel help bridge the gap—making sure nothing falls through the cracks and every need gets met as soon as possible.
How Leadership Circles Support the Mission
FosterFerret was designed to center the needs, ideas, and voices of foster youth—but its strength comes from the leadership networks that ensure those voices are heard and acted upon at every level.
The Founders Circle is made up of early adopter districts partnering with the Riverside County Office of Education (RCOE) to bring FosterFerret to life in schools. These districts are helping to pilot, inform, and model best practices for how the platform is integrated into real-world educational and child welfare systems.
The Friends of FosterFerret serve as advocates and champions—from county officials to statewide education leaders—who use their influence to elevate the platform’s visibility, promote policy alignment, and ensure the mission stays centered on student wellbeing.
Together, these Leadership Circles form the backbone of a growing movement: one that combines the innovation of intuitive AI with the wisdom of youth experience and system leadership to create lasting change.
The FosterFerret Story
By Cheryl Flores
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.
Foster Ferret stands for something bigger. Nothing about us, without us.
The Features of FosterFerret
The Digital Vault
The Wellness Check-In
The 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
The Wellness Check-In
The Digital Vault
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
The Wellness Check-In
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
FosterFerret Kids- Available March 4th
The Wellness Check-In
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
FosterFerret Kids- Available March 4th
FosterFerret Kids- Available March 4th
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- Available March 4th
FosterFerret Kids- Available March 4th
FosterFerret Kids- Available March 4th
For caregivers of foster youth
For foster youth in early childhood, birth-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.
