About Foster Compass
Last updated September 2026
Foster Compass helps young people leaving foster care in North Carolina find real help — a bed, an ID, money for school, someone to call — without an account, a caseworker, or giving up their name.
Every place we send you to shows you where its details came from and when. Some we've confirmed by phone. Some we've taken from the organization's own website and haven't rung yet — the card tells you which.
Why this exists
Foster Compass was built by someone who spent about ten years in foster care in North Carolina — more than thirty placements, across foster homes, group homes and homeless shelters.
The help was out there the whole time. Most of it was found late, found slowly, and some of it only came to light years after it would have changed something. Nobody is hiding these programs. They are scattered across agencies that don't talk to each other, behind numbers that change, and most of them are never mentioned to the person they were built for.
That is the gap this exists to close: the time between needing something and getting a real person on the phone about it — including the things you would have no way of knowing to ask for.
How a resource gets on here
Two ways, and the card always tells you which.
Confirmed by phone. Somebody called them, checked they exist, take the people we'd send, and answer at the number listed. The card shows the date of that call.
From their own website. We took the details from the organization's own page, or from a county resource sheet, on a recorded date — and haven't rung them yet. The card says so plainly and tells you to call before you travel.
Nothing gets on here without a source and a way to reach it. If a place has neither, it isn't shown, and there is no way to turn that off from this website.
This means the service is honest about being incomplete. If we don't have something for what you asked, we say so and hand you 211 rather than guessing.
What we don't do
Being clear about this matters more than sounding capable.
- We are not a crisis service. If something is happening right now, call or text 988, or call 911.
- We are not your caseworker, and we don't talk to your caseworker, your county, your school, or your placement.
- We don't refer you anywhere. Nobody is told you asked. You call them yourself, or you don't.
- We don't follow up. No texts, no emails, no checking in — because we would have to know who you are to do that.
- We can't get you a bed or a spot. We can tell you who to ask and what to expect when you do.
What we know about you
Nothing. There is no account, no login, and no name. We don't store what you type — the words go to find your answer and are then gone.
We count how the service is used, so counties can see what young people actually need. Those counts are categories, a county, and a date. There is no field in the system that could hold a name, a phone number, or a sentence you wrote, so there is nothing to leak, subpoena, or hand over.
For counties, agencies, and anyone who wants to help
Write about a county pilot, adding a resource we don't have, printing QR codes for a lobby or a discharge packet, or anything else.
This route is for organizations. It is not a help line, and it is not monitored by anyone who can help a young person with something urgent — please don't use it for that.
If you need help right now
Don't email anyone. Go back to the main screen and type what you need, or use one of these — they are free, they answer 24 hours a day, and none of them need your name.
- 988 — call or text, if you are in danger or thinking of hurting yourself
- 911 — if something is happening this minute
- 211 — call, to be pointed to something local for food, shelter, or bills
- 1-800-RUNAWAY — the National Runaway Safeline, call or text