Can I Be a Foster Parent?
Foster parents come from a wide range of backgrounds. They can be married or single and with or without children of their own. Foster parents must be over 21 years of age, have adequate space in their homes, pass a background check and must have a stable source of income.
How Do I Become a Foster Parent?
If you are interested in becoming a foster parent, contact the Children’s Home + Aid location nearest you. You will be invited to a Children’s Home + Aid Foster Care Information Meeting where you will receive detailed information about the foster care program. Next, a home visit will be scheduled to begin the licensing and home study process. This is followed by the submission of a foster home application, medical forms for everyone living in the home, personal references, and background checks (fingerprinting) for you and other adults living in the home as required by law.
After completing a 33-hour foster parent training course, you will be on your way to becoming a licensed foster parent. After you have received your license, the process of placing a foster child in your care can begin.
Children’s Home + Aid’s role in this process is to recruit and qualify the best possible foster homes and guide approved parents through the licensing process. Children’s Home + Aid also conducts interviews to appropriately match children with foster care providers, and supervise the placement of the child. After the child has been placed, Children’s Home + Aid works to support the biological parents, the foster parents, and the child through a comprehensive range of services including counseling, therapy, education, medical care, and after-hours emergency response.
Perhaps the most important role Children’s Home + Aid plays in the foster care system is that of child advocate. Children’s Home + Aid works closely with governmental agencies and courts to achieve a permanent solution for the child and family: placement in a loving, stable home.
Children’s Home + Aid is collaborating with Voices for Illinois Children in the Foster Kids Are Our Kids campaign “to change perceptions about foster kids and to challenge the public to contribute to improving their lives.” Click here for a brief description of the campaign and to view all four Foster Kids Are Our Kids video commercials.
Children’s Home + Aid recognizes, respects, promotes and celebrates the value of cultural diversity and will ensure that each client’s ethnic or cultural customs, practices, and beliefs, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, disability, and/or community differences will be respected by agency staff.