Colorado’s state foster care agency is on a drive to recruit more than 1,200 more foster parents in the next two years.

The foster care system currently has about 2,000 foster families, but spokesperson Nourie Boraie of the Colorado Department of Human Services said only about 75 percent stay from year to year. 

The need is most acute for foster parents who identify as Hispanic, black, LGBTQ or American Indian.

Luis Guzman, acting director of the CDHS Office of Children, Youth and Families said in a statement Tuesday that “[w]e can’t allow so many Colorado children to end the day without a safe place to sleep. We need adults from all communities and backgrounds to step up and help our kids. You don’t have to be a perfect to be a foster or adoptive parent. All that matters is that you are ready to make a difference in a child or teen’s life at a time when they need you the most.”

The department has already distributed $100,000 in grant funding to county human service and child placement agencies as part of the recruitment effort. Another $50,000 in grants will go to counties where children in foster care experience a high amount of school mobility.

The CDHS statement said some foster children have “complex emotional, behavioral and mental health needs, and are looking for adults who would be willing to foster these children. In addition, the department also hopes that diverse families will become foster families, pointing out that there about 2,000 Hispanic children in the foster care system, but only 450 foster families identify as Hispanic. There are about 600 black children in the foster care system, with 200 black foster parents, and 28 kids of Native American or Native Alaskan backgrounds but only 10 parents who identify as such. Native American children in foster care must be placed with adults enrolled in tribes, according to CDHS.