Foster care is a temporary service or arrangement provided by the states for children who are unable to safely remain with their families in their homes. Often, this is due to some type of crisis the family is experiencing.  It is a situation in which for a period of time a child lives with and is cared for by people who are not their parents.  Children in foster care may live with relatives or with unrelated foster parents. Foster care can also refer to placement settings such as group homes, residential care facilities, emergency shelters, and supervised independent living.

Most children and teens that are in foster care are there due to some degree of child abuse or neglect. Neglect would normally include physical, emotional, medical, sexual, or lack of supervision. Examples of physical neglect could be not providing the child with adequate food, clothing or shelter. Each state determines the criteria that determines how physical, sexual, and emotional abuse are defined.

Traditional (Basic) Foster Care:  This is a temporary arrangement in which trained caregivers (foster parents) provide 24/7 care and support services in a home environment to children in state custody. In most cases, the birth parents are unable to care for them due to some type of family crisis. This arrangement is intended to be temporary until it is healthy and safe for the children to return to their biological family.

Therapeutic Foster Care:  This includes the following:

 * Medically Complex Foster Care – for children with medical challenges.
 * Specialized Medically Complex Foster Care – for children with medical and emotional challenges.
 * Degreed Medically Complex Foster Care – for children with medical challenges in which the primary caretaker is a health care professional.
 * Care Plus Foster Care – for children who have emotional or behavioral challenges.

There are many children who are placed in foster care that have experienced traumatic stress such as abuse, neglect or other family problems. In addition, some of them also have significant medical conditions or intellectual and developmental delays. These children need specialized care from trained professionals and caregivers in order to heal from trauma and develop their social and independent living skills. Therapeutic Foster Care is an intensive, treatment-based approach to caring for children in foster care to better meet their physical and emotional needs. Youth in therapeutic foster care meet regularly with a therapist and a case manager who assist and monitor their progress. Therapeutic foster parents also receive continual training and 24/7 professional support.

Emergency Foster Care:  Emergency caregivers are assigned to provide short-term care for children placed in protective state custody. This is usually for a period up to 72 business hours, or until a relative or foster family placement is found.

Respite Care:  Foster parents may need a break and time to rest after providing ongoing daily care to a child. Respite caregivers provide short-term care, typically evening or weekend care, for a child currently living with another foster family.

Nationally, about 428,000 children are in foster care. In Kentucky, about 9,000 youth are in foster care and there is a great need for loving and supportive foster parents.

Children in foster care range in age from newborns to 21 years old. Teenagers are the largest demographic and in the greatest need as well as sibling groups of three or more children.

Persons from all racial/ethnic/cultural and religious backgrounds, renters and homeowners, single, married, divorced or living with a partner, persons who identify as LGBTQ+, persons with any education level, all are welcome to apply.

• Applicants must be at least 21 years old.
• Foster/Adoptive parents can be married, single or living with a partner.
• Foster/Adoptive families should be financially stable and have an income sufficient to meet the family’s needs.
• Applicants must be able to provide a safe, secure and healthy home for a child.
• Foster/Adoptive parents must be in good physical and mental health.
• All adults in the home must complete criminal background checks including FBI, sex offender registry and a check of the child abuse registry.
• All applicants must complete training to help them understand the needs of children in foster care.

No, you can be married, single, divorced, widowed or living with a partner. However, if you are presenting as a couple, both must go through the approval process.

No, you can rent. But you must have adequate space available and your landlord’s approval to care for foster children.

Yes. Extra help for the cost of day care may be available.

To meet the needs of children placed in their home, foster parents receive:

• Financial assistance in the form of a daily rate
• Medical coverage for the children
• Daycare assistance for working parents
• Other assistance provided to meet the specialized needs of children on a case by case basis

The Department for Community Based Services provides training that meets the needs of foster parents. Foster parents are required to receive a minimum of fifteen hours approved curriculum training and fifteen hours of pre-service web-based training to becoming a foster parent. Approved foster and adoptive families must complete a minimum of ten hours of ongoing training each year.

Yes. We want to ensure that the needs of the children placed in the home are compatible with the strengths of the foster parents.

Applicants will be expected to have an income sufficient to meet their present family needs and to insure the stability of the family unit.

Regulations and requirements for foster parenting differ from state to state. That makes it difficult to provide an accurate timeframe on the approval process. However, most foster parents complete all the steps in 3 to 6 months.

There is no “waiting period” after your foster home is approved. It is not uncommon for foster parents to accept their first placement within days of their home being approved.

There is no typical time frame because children are placed in foster care for a lot of different reasons. Some need only brief, temporary placement until a relative can be located. Others may need a stable environment in which to finish school or until their parents can meet their treatment goals. There are also some children that may need long-term to permanent care (adoption).

The first goal for most foster children is to reintegrate them back into a safe and stable environment with their birth family. The length of stay in a foster home and in foster care varies depending on the progress of the case plan.

Our goal is for foster youth to be treated as much like one of your own children as possible. However, there are some limitations on what foster youth can do. Since the state is the legal custodian of foster youth, we must get permission before they are allowed to engage in certain activities or attend certain events.

No. Same sex children are allowed to share a room with one another, but are not allowed to share a bedroom with a foster parent. However, they must have their own bed.

A child may be placed with a relative when it is in the best interest of the child. To be eligible for the assistance provided to foster parents, a relative foster home must meet the same requirements for training and ongoing approval as nonrelative homes. The majority of children who are placed with relatives do so outside of the foster care system, and the family does not need to become approved to foster or adopt.

Kentucky offers foster parent peer support through programs such as:

• The Kentucky Foster and Adoptive Training Support Network
• The Foster Parent Mentor Program
• Adoption Support for Kentucky

Maybe. Foster care is temporary care with the goal of reuniting the child with his or her birth family. Three out of four foster children do go home and it is important for foster parents to help the child successfully reunite with his or her birth parents while helping the child during such a tumultuous time. In the event that the child’s goal changes to adoption, the foster family may apply to adopt. Many adoptions in Kentucky are foster parent adoptions. In selecting adoptive families, the best interest of the child is always of the utmost importance. Therefore, many factors have to be considered. For example, does the child need to be adopted with his or her siblings who may be in other foster homes? Your R&C worker can help you in deciding whether to explore this option.

All known relevant information about the child’s educational, medical or developmental history is provided to the foster parent.

This is not a problem unless the child is allergic or scared.

A child’s placement may be for as short as an overnight stay or longer than a year.

A foster child’s return home is usually the ultimate goal. The foster parent will have the opportunity to participate in the planning and to say goodbye to the foster child. This can be a difficult time, but the child’s return home represents a success. Returning home is the goal for most children in foster care. You will play an integral role in helping the child and family successfully transition.

Respite care is available for foster families and children. Respite is used when a foster family simply needs to take a break for a few days or if the foster family needs to be away for other reasons.

The children’s level of contact with their biological families will depend on their individual cases. In some of the cases, parental rights may have already been terminated, resulting in no contact. In other cases, there may be phone calls and supervised visits, or children may spend weekends at home with their biological families unsupervised.

Foster parents should be open to having some contact with the birth families, when the goal is for the eventual reunification of the child and their biological parents. Overall, it is best for the child if the foster parents and birth parents can establish a positive relationship with each other.

In the majority of cases nationwide, children in foster care are reunited with their families. The average length of time a child is in foster care is about a year, but a lot of this is dependent on the length of time it takes for the family to resolve their conflicts or disruptions and demonstrate that their home is safe for their child’s return home.

Confidentiality laws prohibit the release of further information about the child after they leave your care. If the child is subsequently placed in another foster home or residential facility, it is left to the case manager’s discretion as to whether continued contact is in the child’s best interest. If the child is reintegrated or adopted, this decision is given to the child’s birth or adoptive parents.

Actually, there’s no typical model. Some of our foster families are single-parent families. Some have kids in their home while others don’t. Some older foster parents have already raised their own family, but want to open their hearts and homes to more kids. Some are homeowners, and some are renters. Our parents come from all racial, ethnic, religious backgrounds and sexual orientations.