What is foster family

Their birth parents rights have been terminated, and they are legally free for adoption. A family can find out about those children through services such photolistings on Meet The Children.

We invite you to look through our resources to find out more about this type of adoption. Leave this field blank. Search Search form Search. What is Foster Care Many of us have heard about the foster care system. Mahatma Gandhi There are many challenges for those families who become foster parents. Who can become a foster parent? You must provide a vulnerable sector screening report by police and be approved through a thorough assessment process You must complete 27 hours of pre-service training prior to the completion of the home study You are willing to work with the guidelines, Mission, Vision and Values of KHCAS.

Who Are Foster Parents? What Supports are Available to Foster Parents? Statement for Community Partners re: Delivery of Service March 30th, To Our Community Partners; In order to support the health and safety of all of our employees, foster parents, volunteers as We are proud members of the following organizations. Children are placed in foster care only after other options have failed, and social service agencies work with the family to resolve its problems so that children can return to their homes.

The second aim of the Child Welfare Reform Act is to support the so-called "permanency planning. If it seems likely that parents will not be able to care for their children again, their parental rights may be terminated so that the child is free to be adopted. This policy is articulated in this law in order to prevent children from living too long in an unstable and uncertain situation. The goal of foster care is the care of the child within the child welfare system, but also is to place all appropriate and available services at the disposal of the parents so that they can create a safe, fit home environment for their children when they are reunited.

Children in the child welfare system are also overseen by a multitude of agencies. The caseworker from the state or county social services agency oversees the child's placement and makes regular reports to the court. Others involved in the child's case are private service providers including foster homes and group homes , welfare agencies, mental health counselors, substance abuse treatment centers for the child or the parent , and Medicaid federal medical insurance for seniors and children at risk.

In , about , children in the United States spent some time in foster care placement. By , there were nearly , children in foster care, with , children in the system at any given time. The majority of these children were the victims of abuse. Children from families with multiple problems flooded the child welfare system. Young children with physical handicaps, mental delays or mental illness, and complex medical conditions have become the fastest-growing foster care population.

The foster care population is quite young. About one-fourth of all children entering foster care for the first time are infants. Sixty percent of foster children are under four years old. Teenagers comprise one-third of the foster care population. Minority children comprise most of the foster care population, with the largest groups being African American and American Indian children. Poor children are more likely to be in foster care than middle-class children because their families have fewer resources.

Illness or loss of a job may be devastating to a poor family with no savings and no relatives who can afford to assist them. These children are also more likely to stay in foster care longer or to have been in foster care since infancy. Also, children of alcoholics or drug abusers are at high risk for neglect or abuse, and comprise 75 percent of all placements.

More than half 57 percent of all children in foster care are returned to their original homes; however, reunification rates have declined in the s and early twenty-first century.

Children also spend more time in the system. The average length of stay for a child in foster care is 33 months. However, some spend a very short time in a foster home, and others are there for their entire childhoods, "aging out" at 18 when they become legal adults.

Instead of reunification, more children are being adopted from foster care. Most states doubled, and some tripled, the number of foster care adoptions since This steady increase is a response to the Adoption and Safe Families Act ASFA of that recommends termination of parental rights and encourages adoption if a child has been in foster care for 15 out of the previous 22 months.

This can be waived by the court if the parents are making substantive progress or the caseworker believes that legal guardianship, but not adoption, is in the child's best interests.

Half of all children in foster care live with nonrelative foster caregivers; about one-fourth live with relatives, and this number is growing. ASFA also recognized kinship caregivers as legitimate placements. It was customary for many poor families to take in a child informally when the child's parents or legal guardians were incarcerated, in treatment, or had died, but ASFA allowed relatives to take care of a child legally and receive financial help, and also opened the doors to a number of agencies and services the relatives could not afford.

In most cases, children placed in foster care have been subjected to some form of abuse or neglect, and being removed from familiar surroundings is, in itself, usually highly traumatic. Children in foster care may have nightmares , problems sleeping or eating, and may be depressed, angry, and confused. Many young children in foster care are unable to understand why they have been taken from their parents. Even if a child is in some sense relieved to be out of a home that was dangerous, the child may still miss the parents or legal guardians, and may imagine that there is something he or she must do to get back to them.

There is evidence that children from abusive and neglectful homes start to feel better in foster care; however, separation is almost always difficult for children, regardless of the circumstances. Half of all foster children spend as much as two years in foster care and are moved from placement to placement at least three times.

This leads not only to uncertainty and lack of stability in the child's life, but some of these placements may be inappropriate for the child's specific circumstances. This often is due to the lack of qualified, licensed foster caregivers, but it can also occur as a result of inexperienced or overloaded caseworkers trying to get through their caseloads.

Foster care can be difficult for foster parents as well. A child who has been neglected or abused suffers psychological damage that may make him or her withdrawn, immature, aggressive, or otherwise difficult to reach.

Children with severe medical and mental problems can tax caregivers. Foster placements sometimes fail because these surrogate parents simply cannot handle the demands of a troubled foster child. Unfortunately, the number of foster caregivers has been declining since the mids as the demand for placements has increased. States have responded by licensing responsible adults who were not married even divorced men and women and reaching out to seniors and children's relatives.