Be A Foster Parent

Foster families...

• Love and understand children
• Want to share their time and families
• Can cope with stressful situations
• Are flexible and responsive
• Are members of a team - together with the child's own family, a social worker, and other professionals
• Are substitute parents for children - providing food, shelter, clothing, stability, guidance, discipline...and love
• Receive a stipend for the cost of foster care
• Work with other team members to...
  • provide opportunities for family visits
  • promote educational and social goals
  • provide services needed to reunite the child's family
  • prepare the child for adoption or independent living

Support services are available

As foster parents, you are not alone in your efforts to provide care for the child in your home. Foster parenting, like child-rearing in general, is not without problems. In those instances when extra family resources are necessary, the casework staff is available to suggest and coordinate services or offer direct consultation as needed. The agency staff will talk with the foster parents about plans for the child's future. Through these efforts, the agency hopes to maintain a team approach for providing for the child.

Foster parents receive a monthly fee for the board and care of each foster child, according to the age and needs of the child. Clothing allowances are provided for each child three times a year. All medical, dental and pharmacy fees are paid for by the Department.

How to become a certified foster parent

  You can apply to become a certified foster parent if you...

• Are at least 21 years old
• Are married or single
• Have your own source of income (job, public assistance, pension, Social Security)
• Are able to provide a safe and healthy home
• Have enough living space to care for a child
• Are willing to work with your family and an agency caseworker to explore what it means to be a foster parent and the impact of foster parenting on family life
• Want to work closely with other team members to help a child a restore a family

Be a foster family

In New York State, foster families give special care and attention to thousands of children whose own families are temporarily unable to care for them.

More foster parents are needed. Foster parents open their homes and hearts to care for and nurture children while helping to bring them and their families together again. They also care for children who are waiting to be adopted.

As a foster parent, you will provide a vital service to children and families in need in your community.

The foster child

• A foster child, like all children, needs love, affection, and guidance.
• Foster children represent all ethnic groups and all ages, from infancy through teens.
• Some children may have handicapping conditions and need special care.
• Often brothers and sisters need to be placed together.
• Sometimes teenage parents need a temporary home for themselves and their children.  

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