Category: Become a Foster Parent

Therapeutic vs. Traditional Foster Care

in Administration for Children and Families, as volunteer, Become a Foster Parent, Child Welfare Information Gateway, Children’s Bureau, Foster Care, Foster Care Agencies, Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), Foster Parents, Therapeutic Fostering

Broadly there are two categories of foster kids. Traditional Foster Care involves caring for children who are “normal” kids not dis-similar to kids from a regular biological household in terms of behavioral issues. Therapeutic (or Treatment) foster kids are kids that need a higher level of care and attention to help resolve the trauma that…
National Foster Care Month: Can neighbors be like kin?

in Become a Foster Parent, Foster Care, Foster Kid’s home culture, Kinship care, May is Foster Care Month, Neighbors

May is National Foster Care Month. And this year the focus is on kinship care and reunion with bio families (biological or birth families) where possible. Kinship This post explores the idea that neighbors can be considered as kin for the purposes of “keeping families together.”
Kinship Foster Care: Why Culture is important

in Become a Foster Parent, Child Welfare Information Gateway, Children’s Bureau, Foster Care, Foster Kid’s home culture, Kinship care

We are delighted to celebrate the first anniversary of StartFosterCare.org and the May 2022 National Foster Care month. Kinship connections and stronger families is a focus of this year’s foster care month.See the Children’s Bureau and Child Welfare Information Gateway website.In this post we explain why culture is important to the foster child.
Why Foster Parent Training Matters

in Administration for Children and Families, Become a Foster Parent, Children’s Bureau, Foster Care, Foster Care Agencies, Foster Care Research, Foster Parents, Motivation, Therapeutic Fostering, Training, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

The foster parent recruitment process involves compulsory foster parent training. It is after training that a foster parent becomes a licensed foster parent in a US state. This is an important professional credential for us at StartFosterCare.org. As social work/foster care professionals always explain at StartFosterCare meetings, there are different levels of needs of foster…
Foster to Adopt: Start with Love

in Adoption, Become a Foster Parent, Foster Care, Foster Care Agencies, Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), Foster Parents, Motivation, Permanency

If you are thinking of becoming a foster parent with the intention of adopting the foster child. We have three words for you this holiday season: Start with Love.
Thank you Dr. John- Foster Care Institute

in Administration for Children and Families, Become a Foster Parent, Child Welfare Information Gateway, Children’s Bureau, Foster Care, Foster Care Agencies, Foster Parents

We are so proud that Dr. John has put out a recommendation for us to Foster Care professionals in both US State Governments and Foster Agencies across US States. We specialize in the front end of recruiting quality prospective foster parents through technology. And its important for foster care professionals and foster parents to know…
What are the expectations from Foster Parents?

in Become a Foster Parent, Foster Care, Foster Care Research

There seems to be a lot of expectations from foster parents. And the trouble is that these expectations can be unclear for both foster parents and agencies.We urge foster parents and agencies to have a one page checklist (see the Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande) of parent expectations for every child because the child’s situation…
Don’t Confuse Foster Care with Adoption

in Adoption, Become a Foster Parent, Foster Care, Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), Foster Parents

For those not deeply familiar with the Child Welfare System there is a common confusion that Foster Care is somehow similar to Adoption. Multiple website’s content from different folks often use the terms interchangeably. Since this adversely affects the recruitment and work of foster parents we wish to clarify for all prospective foster parents out…
What Motivates Foster Parents?

in Become a Foster Parent, Foster Care, Foster Care Research, Foster Parents, Motivation, Religion, Stipend

Foster parents are kind and caring people. It takes a good heart to step up and care for a child unrelated to you (foster care) or even related to you (kinship foster care). We found a great piece of research on what motivates foster parents by Tracy E. MacGregor, Susan Rodger, Anne L. Cummings, and…
Mental health issues: foster kids vs. public

in Become a Foster Parent, Child Welfare Information Gateway, Kinship care, Therapeutic Fostering

Many prospective foster parents hesitate from stepping up to become a foster parent. One of the concerns is the potential mental health issues of foster kids. The concern is valid because if you are a kid and are removed from your difficult biological family situation there are two sources of stress. The first is the…