Foster parents provide daily care and support for a child or children placed in their home. They are part of a team which can include the biological parents, child’s worker, resource worker, teachers, doctors and other community partners.
Foster parenting is a proactive commitment to nurture, to advocate, and to provide unconditional love, along with the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter to children who are unable to remain in their home because of maltreatment.
Foster parents set consistent guidelines, establish expectations, structure and routine which are the foundations of healthy development for all children. Foster parents allow time to participate in a child’s day to day living such as playing and having fun together, attending to their health care needs, assisting the child with homework, sharing and creating good memories, encouraging and providing opportunities for the foster child to experience new activities, and to participate in community programs.
The length of time a child remains with a foster family can vary from a few days to weeks or even years depending on the circumstances.
- What Do Foster Parents Do?
- Who Can Become a Foster Parent?
- What is Involved in Becoming a Foster Parent?
- Who Are Foster Children?
- Types of Foster Care
- Foster Parent Training & Support
- National Foster Family Week
- Learn More about Becoming a Foster Parent
- Children and Youth Who Need Full-time or Relief Foster Families
