Foster care is temporary care for a child who is unable to remain in their own home and are placed into the custody of the state or county. Both public and private foster family care agencies recruit foster parents to provide these services for children. Some of these children are then available for adoption.
Any birth parent who is considering placing their child in foster care should also consider placing the child with a friend or relative or placing the child for adoption with the assistance of a child adoption agency. To explore placing a child into foster care you can contact your State Child Welfare Agency and ask for their help. If you are a birth parent considering foster care, please contact us so we can go over your options and help you.
If you are interested in adopting a child from foster care, you can start by contacting your State Child Welfare Agency or your State Adoption Specialist. Foster parents are individuals who are committed to providing a safe, temporary home for children who have been abused and neglected and/or are unable to remain living in their own homes.
The following has been adapted websites listed at the bottom of the page.
Most foster care situations are intended to be temporary with the ultimate goal of foster care being to provide support and care for the child until either reunification with the biological parent can take place or another permanent living arrangement such as adoption can be arranged. The foster placement will be monitored until the biological family can provide appropriate care or the biological parental rights are terminated and the child is adopted.
Foster care can be either voluntary or involuntary. Voluntary foster takes place when the biological parent or guardian parent is unable or unwilling to care for a child while Involuntary foster can be ordered by the court or state child care authority.
Each child placed into foster care will have a plan designed to help assure that he/she can grow up in a permanent and safe family. For many children the plan is to return to the birth parents and, in these cases, the foster parents need to be able to love the child who lives in their home and then be able to let go of them emotionally and physically when it is time to send them back to their parents. For other children, going back to their biological parents will not be possible and the foster parents may have the opportunity to become adoptive parents.
The foster care system all across the U.S. is in desperate need of foster families and the children desperately need a home. However, since many of the children in foster care have suffered emotional and physical abuse or neglect, adopting persons should fully educate themselves about the effects of institutionalization, abuse and chronic maltreatment.
