With a staff of seven at her disposal, Rebecca Davidson is out meeting with families across North Georgia to see if their family tree can take one — or two — more children.

Davidson, an 18-year veteran of the Division of Family and Children Services, started as the resource development supervisor for Region 2 in February. Region 2 includes Hall County and 13 neighboring counties.

Area stakeholders said they are seeing a heightened interest in foster parenting.

“They have recognized through various media forms the huge need for foster parents, and we’re getting some wonderful families that are stepping up,” Davidson said.

The Times’ “Broken Bonds” series delved into the Hall County foster care crisis in October, revealing the county had just 25 foster homes for about 180 children in any given month.

The number of foster homes more than six months later is up by two. The number of children in care remains fairly steady, down to 171 in May.

Davidson wants to increase the number of foster homes by 20 percent by the end of the year.

“I’m getting very, very encouraged that we are certainly going to be able to meet that,” she said.

Region 2 began the year with 115 foster homes and stands currently at 118. To see a 20 percent increase, the region would need to reach 138 homes.

Citing certifications for families in neighboring counties, Davidson added that eight more families are set to begin the training classes Saturday.

The resource development workforce including Davidson and seven case managers demonstrates a revitalized effort for the Region 2 area to support foster families and recruit new ones, said Ashley Fielding, Department of Human Services Communications Director.

Recruitment for resource development is continuing, with a hope to have two dedicated caseworkers in Hall and Dawson counties.

Davidson said her foremost concerns are supporting existing foster homes in the region and working to find new ones. “What struck me was their passionate commitment to children and their dedication to improving the quality of life for children in Hall County overall,” she said of area foster parents.

One issue raised by those already in the foster care system was increased support and having caregivers approved for short-term babysitting. The suggested plan, Davidson said, is to have a support team of three to go through the approval process.

In the search for parents, another objective is to find more diverse homes and parents who will “step up to the plate and accept sibling groups and teenagers,” Davidson said.

“It’s unfortunate that teenagers get a bit of a bad reputation,” she said.

At the Hall County DFCS office on McEver Road, Davidson met Friday with prospective families hoping to learn more about the process.

Lauren and Brent Wykle, a pair of special education teachers respectively from Chestatee Academy of Inquiry and Talent Development in Gainesville and J.C. Magill Elementary in Loganville, discussed their hopes to adopt and start their family.

“We started looking into it, and it just seems like the best fit for us,” Lauren Wykle said, adding that they started looking more at the state’s options about a year ago.

As the resource development team gets a boost in its own resources, which may lead to more local homes for foster children, the Hall DFCS office is still trying to keep up with the demand for caseworkers.

At a minimum, Hall County DFCS Director Holly Campolong said the county needs another dozen case managers to reach a goal set by the state’s Child Welfare Reform Council, created last year by Gov. Nathan Deal. The council would like to see one case manager for every 15 cases.

“With the number of cases we handle on average, we would need between 45 and 50 case managers to get to the goal,” Campolong said.

The heavy load has required the Hall office to borrow six case managers from neighboring counties in Region 2, along with three part-time case managers.

“We have been kind of lean on resources. Right now, we have 20 full-time Hall County case managers that are employed in our office. Because of the volume of the work, we got some assistance from neighboring counties in our region,” Campolong said.

Between the full-time workers, the part-time help and the loaned case managers from other agencies, the number of caseworkers stands at 33.

The local office is approved to hire five additional case managers and a supervisor in July, and Campolong said candidates are being interviewed. The fiscal year 2016 state budget includes $5 million to help retain case managers, Campolong and Fielding said.

Key terms in the budget allocation include increased pay for caseworkers and more opportunities for career advancement.

The initiatives to Campolong represents positive change “so we’re retaining and not having to train a new workforce every several months.”

“That’s really big in terms of once you get somebody in the door, making sure you keep them long enough to ensure we have experienced caseworkers on the front line,” Fielding said.