Requirements To Be a Foster Parent

Must be at least 21 or 25 years old in some areas

Criminal background check and fingerprinting

Stable income - not dependent on reimbursements to support your family

Dependable transportation, and driver’s licenses

Have a bedroom with the required square footage

Attain the required training hours (You will have to do training annually)

Home study

Pass a health and fire inspection

Time to care for a child

CPR and first aid

Your state and agency will or may have additional requirements.

You will go through four steps to become a... more

Continuing on with the different types of foster care.

Adult Care - This is for care to adults that cannot live on their own ( mentally retarded). This should be only looked at as a long term placement. This can be a very different placement and is more case by case need to what degree of care would be. It could be a wheelchair bound person that can not in any way care for them self (will needed assistance with dressing, feeding, bathing, and may required changing diapers). It also could be a mentally retarded person that needs supervision with their daily life, you may have to teach them skills (washing dishes, laundry, helping to prepare food, money, etc) and this also could... more

Continuing on with the different types of foster care.

Also under therapeutic care falls most Mentally Retarded children or in some states they would fall under medically fragile..

Medically Fragile is a area of care that deals with children that have severe medical needs, ongoing illness and chronic condition (ex: cerebral palsy, Spinal bifida, seizures disorder, cancer, HIV, etc) This requires prolonged hospitalization, ongoing medical treatment and monitoring. These children usually take a number of different medications and have a number of devices to assist them in their life. The paperwork on this type of placement can be overwhelming. You need to be very... more

When the children come into care, it will be decided what level of care they need. Most come into care as basic. This does not mean that they will stay basic. You will need to think about what kind of care would be best for you and your family. This will also depend on what agency you will want to use. A lot of agencies just work with one type of care. I will start with the most difficult first, since I have the most experience with this type of care.

Therapeutic Care - Children that are in therapeutic foster care tend to have more emotional problems and they can be very severe. These are very difficult children that need a lot of understanding and patience. Most children... more

Foster/Adopt Placement - When it is felt that a child or children stand a good chance of being placed up for adoption, they will look for a foster family that is licensed to adopt and open to the possibility. This can also be called a legal risk placement. This does not mean this child or children will be up for adoption for certain. There are a number of children that do end up returning back home or to a relative placement. This can be very difficult for the foster family but sad to say it is part of the foster to adopt process. Hang in there and you will find the child meant for your family.

Foster Placement - In most cases the child or children will be placed with a foster family... more

I will explain the types or the differences of the placements. This should give you some food for thought. Hopefully after reading this you may have an idea of placements you would like to do.

Emergency placement - They have the child or will be removing the child and they need a placement right away. If they can not find a foster home or an emergency placement the child will be placed in a shelter, until a foster home can be found. Most of the time they do not have a lot of information on the child, how long, or medical information. Emergency placement can turn into a longer placement, if you choose. I have only had two placements moved after emergency placement, one was moved... more

Self help skills are a big one. Remember who has been there to teach these children. Most all of my children (including babies/toddlers) came with food issues. They are afraid that the next time it is time to eat there will not be any food left. This means they may hoard food (hide it everywhere), eat with their hands while shoveling in and/or want to eat all the time and everything in sight.

Taking a bath even with older children may need to be taught. Don’t take things for granted. Learn from my mistakes. Using soap may have to be explained, shampoo to wash their hair (don’t forget to explain about the rinsing process). We had a 14 year old boy, that had a burr cut. He... more

Children in foster care have suffered some trauma and/or abuse in their life, that is what has caused them to be placed in care. This places great obstacles for the children and foster parents to overcome. These children are not like the children in your family. I will try to explain or hit a few key points.

These children have a lot of anger about most everything going on in their lives when coming into care. The foster parent is the one in the line of fire. The anger may not have a thing to do with you, you are just the person that is there. You are standing in the spot they want their bio parent to be. Their bio parent could have been sexual abusing them, beating them,... more