Foster Care / Foster Parenting

Foster parents are skilled caregivers who understand the issues of child welfare. They and their families provide a structured and nurturing environment where children who have been abused and neglected can feel safe and learn behaviors that will help them become capable and responsible. Our agency always has a need for good foster parents.

Foster care is a temporary placement for children. Whether they come into care because they have been abused or neglected or because of their own behaviors (Person In Need of Supervision or Juvenile Delinquent), our agency’s primary goal is to provide the services and interventions that will help children go home.

Foster parents are very important partners in our efforts with the child’s family to make reunification occur. They need to understand what has happened to children and have techniques for helping them cope with distorted perceptions, damaged emotions and the behaviors that reflect their turmoil. Foster parents must be willing to reparent someone else’s child and work in partnership with the child’s birth family, our agency and other people who play important roles in the child’s life.

Prospective foster families must be certified by our agency according to criteria set forth by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (a department of the Division of Family Assistance) . State and local regulations require that prospective foster parents complete a precertification training program and cooperate with a background investigation. These combined requirements will form the homestudy, which is a written document describing you, your environment and the specific skills you have that will help you parent someone else's child.

Prospective foster parents will participate in "Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting" (MAPP). The group leaders and you will work cooperatively to share vital information that will help all of us make an informed decision for your family. For all your participation during MAPP, the leaders will give you feedback. Through the entire homestudy process, you will be assessing the impact of how foster parenting will affect your family.

Sometimes, children in foster care can not be reunited with their birth families. When that happens, foster parents may be given first consideration to adopt them, therefore, families are dually certified, that is, to foster and adopt.

Your preference and our recommendation will determine the age, sex and number of children placed with you. Each family is recertified annually and the Homefinder who visits your home for that purpose will update your homestudy.

If you would like to learn more about foster parenting, please call Homefinding at 1-877-814-6907 (toll free), 1-585-396-4111 or write to us at ontahf@dfa.state.ny.us

Other links: , Adoption Album and Adoption

Responsible person: Carol Welch

Foster Care Newsletters
Foster Parenting Newsletter 1
Foster Parenting Newsletter 2