RootsBuilder
Kinship care builds families.
It should also build wealth.
A revolving loan fund that turns the foster care payment into the bridge that keeps kinship families together — and the home they improve into a permanent community asset.
The Problem
Kinship care works. But the home often isn't ready.
More than 330,000 US children are in foster care on any given day. Fewer than 40% of them are placed with a grandmother, aunt, uncle, or older sibling — despite clear evidence that children in kinship care do better. They experience less placement disruption, keep stronger connections to siblings and community, and are more likely to reach a permanent home.
The barrier often isn't the caregiver. It's the house.
Nearly 44% of kinship homes are unlicensed sometimes because a furnace is broken, paint tests positive for lead, the electrical is outdated, or there isn't enough bedrooms for a sibling group. In most states, an unlicensed relative cannot access the monthly foster care payment that a licensed caregiver receives.
Meanwhile, the system is running out of homes. For every 100 children entering foster care, only 57 licensed homes are available.
A targeted loan — sometimes as small as $3,000 — can make a grandmother's home safe and keep a child with family and build the foster care infrastructure in a community that needs it.
What We're Building
Two pathways. One fund.
RootsBuilder is a mission-driven revolving loan fund. It lends to kinship caregivers so their homes can meet licensing standards — and once the home is licensed, a portion of the foster care payment services the loan. About 20% goes to repayment; the caregiver keeps the remaining 80% for daily care of the child.
TRACK 1
Safety & Habitability
$2,000 – $15,000
These small loans address lead remediation, mold removal, heating and electrical repair, windows, accessibility modifications — the barriers that genuinely cannot be waived under a state's kin-specific licensing standards. Loans repay over about 54 months, so the capital turns over roughly every four and a half years.
How it works in practice
A grandmother in Pueblo, Colorado takes in her grandson. The inspection flags a failing furnace and lead paint. An $8,500 loan at 4% over 54 months resolves both, and her monthly payment is $172. Licensure raises her foster care payment from $386 to $1,286 a month — an uplift of $900. Twenty percent of that payment covers the loan with $85 a month to spare, and the loan is small enough to remain affordable on Social Security alone if the placement ends.
TRACK 2
Equity Builder Loans
$15,000 – $35,000
Down payment and closing costs that turn a renter into an owner, or funds for a bedroom addition or garage conversion that creates room for a sibling group. Longer horizon — 96 to 120 months — and the improvement becomes a permanent asset the family keeps.
How it works in practice
An aunt in Columbia, South Carolina rents a one-bedroom for $1,160 a month. Two of her nieces are placed with her. A $30,000 loan funds the down payment on a $220,000 three-bedroom home; her mortgage, taxes, and insurance come to $1,295. Licensure for two children brings $1,292 a month, up from roughly $400 in TANF support. She stops paying a landlord and starts building equity.
How RootsBuilder Works
A dollar invested doesn't disappear — it cycles.
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The loan funds the fix. A safety repair, a bedroom addition, or a down payment. The barrier to licensure is resolved
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The home becomes licensed. The caregiver qualifies for the full foster care maintenance payment.
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The payment services the loan. About 20% retires the debt. The caregiver keeps the rest for the child's daily care.
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The capital recycles. As loans repay, the fund lends to the next family. The home stays licensed and stays in the community.
Returned principal recycles into new loans, so the fund's capital base multiplies its impact without requiring new philanthropic investment. A community pool of under $450,000 serves 24 families a year — indefinitely. From year five onward, repayments alone fund every new loan.