How long does it take to become a foster parent, and what are the criteria?

Question

From the moment we begin the process, about how long does it take before we would welcome a child into our home? And what sort of criteria do they have? Credit scores, employment, owning our own home, education level...?

Answer 1

http://www.dss.virginia.gov/family/fc/pa...

Answer 2

Good for you!! Considering being a foster parent...it's not always easy...but it can be very rewarding...

In MO there is an 8 week course. And of course they do background checks and homestudies to make sure your home is safe and ready for children..and they will tell you what the requirements for the house will be You don't have to own..you can have an apartment even.  

Because we were already taking the courses and had passed the homestudy and background checkes.....we actually already had a kid in our home before we completed the classes..

So good luck - and open your arms to those waiting children.

Answer 3

That depends on where you live. If you visit the National Foster Parents Association Website, you can find info about your state. In some places you need 30 hours of training prior to placement and in some places it is as low as six hours. In some places, you must supply 40 square feet of bedroom space per child, in other places, it is more or less. In some places, you can take your first placement while you are finishing up your first round of training and other places, not. There are credit checks in some states and not others. Home ownership is not mandatory, but your home must be safe. In many states you must prove that you can pay your bills without using the money the state allocates for the care of the child.

Answer 4

Ok, the foster care process is reasonably standard in most places, there may be some monor differences, but not many.  Firstly, the criteria is pretty open.  You can be single, living together, married, etc.  You are given a comprehensive criminal history check, and they ask about your income, but there aren't any actual income restraints.  You can own or rent your home, but there must be space for the child, and he or she must be able to have their own room.

There is no employment status or education level requirement, they recognise that raising children is about life skills, and most of their questions will focus around this.

Your home is checked for safety, such as medicines and poisons locked away, pets being child friendly, etc, pool fences, stair gates, etc.

They will talk to you about your own upbringing, your relationships with your family, your partner, friends and community.  They will ask you about your parenting style, and give you some scenarios so you can tell them how you would handle children in a range of situations.

Usually, they come out to your house for a few interviews, and they're really not that bad!  My social worker was lovely, and we ended up having a good chat most of the time!  At the end of the assessment process, you have to attend some training classes, the length varies from place to place, but it's usually around a month.  These are actually really useful, and they're more for giving you the information that you want, rather than real 'classes'.  I enjoyed mine.

For me, the whole process from start to finish took around 9 months, but it really depends on the availability of resources, how desperate the need is, etc.

Oh, and I nearly forgot, there's an initial information session as well, to give you some general info on what  it's all about.

I think that's everything, feel free to email me if you want to know more, or need any help.

Answer 5

I'm not sure where you're located but if you Google your state's name and the term "foster care" you'll come up with your state's requirements and process.

You'll need to go through classes (ours were 30 hours spread out over a 10 week period...we went one night a week for 3 hours).  You'll need to be CPR certified.  You'll need to get your home up to code (fence around a pool if you have one, a fire extinguisher & stuff like that).  You'll be fingerprinted & they'll do criminal & child abuse/neglect background checks.  They'll check references, employment and such.  I don't think they look at credit scores at least in our state.  

There's no requirements about owning or renting a home (just to have adequate space and each child needs their own bed).  No requirements about education levels.

Google your state about foster care & see what you can find out and also who to contact to start the process.

We are adoptive parents (internationally) but we've also been foster parents for about two years.  We've taken several kids into our home & considered adopting one of them.  We love doing this, it's a very fulfilling thing.