THE HOWS AND WHYS OF FOSTER CARE 

What is Foster Care? 

Foster care is a program designed to provide a substitute family life experience in an agency approved household for a child who needs care for a temporary or extended period of time.  During this time, the child’s biological family is either non-existent or dysfunctional.  The primary goal of foster care is to reunite families or to ensure that the child will leave foster care for a permanent placement.  Foster care is founded on the premise that all children have the right to physical care and educational and emotional nurturance.  Foster parenting is not a lifetime commitment to a child but a commitment to be meaningful during a child’s lifetime.

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What is Foster Parenting? 

Parenting in itself is not just an instinct.  Regardless of the experience foster parents have had with their own children, they often find foster parenting very different.  Few parents have had formal training in child growth and development.  Foster parenting may involve handling many children of many different ages at one time.  Foster parents may have children further apart or closer together in age than most families.  The foster children arrive at times of crisis or under extraordinary circumstances.  Foster parents also have special pressure that other parents do not have.  They have legal obligations to the agency, the biological parents and the foster children.

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What are the goals of Foster Care? 

The provision of foster care services is based on the belief that every child’s most urgent need and right is to have a permanent home and family of his own.  When it is not possible for a child to receive the care and nurture he needs from his biological parents, the opportunity for normal uninterrupted family life in the community and continuity of care should be available to him through substitute care.  The best foster care is only a substitute for the nurture and care a child should receive from his biological family.  Based on these assumptions, the goals of foster care in order of priority are:

1.      To restore the family so the child can be returned to his own home.

2.      To place the child with relatives.

3.      To place the child in a permanent home through adoption.

4.      To provide for each child than enters foster care, a stable, continuous relationship with a nurturing, parenting person or persons through a formalized long-term contractual agreement (permanent foster care).

5.      To provide each child a nurturing, stable home environment through continued foster care.

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What are the Requirements?

 Persons who: 

1.      are single or married,

2.      are preferably at least 21 years of age,

3.      have their own source of income from employment or benefits,

4.      can provide a safe and healthy home,

5.      have enough living space to care for a child, either in a house or apartment,

6.      are willing to work with an agency, birth parents, schools and others,

7.      are able to help a child cope with separation from this family and with the effects of abuse and neglect, and

8.      are able to let go when the time comes.

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How do I Become a Foster Parent?

• If you are considering foster parenting, contact the Foster Home Development Social Worker at 890-3787. You will be given more detailed information about the application process and training. Basic requirements include:

   

  • Consenting to a criminal background check
  • Consenting to a child abuse/neglect record check
  • Providing references
  • Providing medical information
  • Providing employment history
  • Meeting with a social worker to:
    • Discuss the roles and responsibilities of a foster parent
    • Show that your home is a safe environment for your foster child
    • Review state and local foster care requirements
  • Participate in an 8-10 week training program and an individual assessment process

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