Family foster care, the mainstay of public child welfare systems, is in critical need of reform. Following a discussion of the efforts of the Annie E. Casey Foundation to assist communities and agencies in confronting this crisis, this paper describes the Family to Family Initiative, a system founded on the view that family foster care reform must be directed to producing a service that is less disruptive to its clients, more community-based and culturally-sensitive, more individualized to the needs of children and families, more available as an alternative to institutional placement, and more family-centered. Grants have been awarded to Alabama, New Mexico, Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Los Angeles County, and five Georgia counties. The paper describes the current status of the initiative, presents tools developed or used in Family to Family, and contains program description and evaluation information from the Family Match Program in Michigan and the Shared Family Care Program in California. The Shared Family Care Program involves the temporary placement of an entire family in the home of a host family who is trained to mentor and support the biological parents as they develop skills and supports necessary to care for their children and move toward independent living. The Family Match Program also involves mentoring to enhance family functioning, and to preserve and reunite families. (KB)