National Foster Care Month on May, 2024: Foster care question?

May, 2024 is National Foster Care Month 2024. Foster Care Facts‎ Scary Statistics About The Foster Care System. Visit For More Info.

National Foster Care Month is observed in the United States during the month of May every year. It began with President George Bush Sr in 1988. Since 1988, National Foster Care Month continues to be recognized and celebrated.

Hi try going onto your local council website,Then go onto fostering page.I printed the application form of from them and it tells you all you need to know,from the information i got you have to attend 1 information day,3 development days,1 assessment day these normally run from 9:45am till 4pm,you fill in the forms with the name, age, gender etc of anyone who lives in your household and other adults who will have contact on a regular basis,you need 3 referees,you will have all the following checked:

CRB

National Health Service

Supported Living

NSPCC

Child and Family Court Advisory and Support Service

Child Protection Unit

Education Welfare

Your Dr will be asked to conduct a medical examination to assess if there are any medical issues as to why you should not be a carer.

There are approx 42 different types of children for you to decide from. Gender,Age etc

Examples :

children with hearing impairment

downs syndrome

physically or sexually abused

neglected or abandoned

born as result of a rape or incest

or whos parent has been killed by the other parent.Etc.

There are a few more questions than this on the forms.

This is just the 1st step.

It can take anything from 6 months onwards.

It doesnt matter if you are not working,If your single or if you have other children, at the end of the day all of these children need a loving caring mother or father figure with them during the day aswell as night time,

The end result will be worth it.

Goodluck.

Some questions about foster care for a story I'm writing?

Rules regarding foster care will vary from state to state, and even within some states from one agency to another.

1. Yes, there are limits. First there are two basic types of foster homes--foster homes that are the homes of actual families and group homes that are sort of like dormitories. In my state, a foster home is usually limited to 5 children (this includes any biological children of the foster family) under 18, but exceptions may be made if there are several siblings. Siblings, to social workers, would definitely include half-siblings, as long as they are siblings that the child knows already. Social workers try to keep siblings together, as research seems to show that children are more traumatized by being separated from siblings than from parents.

2. At age 18, children "age out" of foster care. They are legally adults and are now responsible for themselves. This is a tragedy as most foster children aren't ready to be financially responsible for themselves and often end up on the street. Some states have programs for such children, to give them a half-way house that they can stay in and learn survival skills. They are also trying to make sure that teens in foster care learn about basic survival skills--basic banking, job hunting skills, basic cooking skills, etc.

3. Get involved in what? In putting them in foster care in the first place or involved while they are in foster care? Usually foster children have social workers who are supposed to visit them at least once a month (once a week in the beginning stages in some states). The social worker is supposed to make sure that the foster child is safe and taken care of properly, and that the biological parent is working on doing what they need to do to make their home safe for the child to return to (if possible) or that the child will have some other permanent home if the biological parent isn't doing what's needed. Often there are others who are also involved on a regular basis--counselors or therapists to help them deal with the abuse or neglect they've been through, as well as the trauma of being taken from their home and all that they knew.

4. There are lots and lots of children in foster care and the horror stories are only a tiny percentage of them. There are foster children in good, caring families, but that isn't enough to make up for the fact that those are *foster* (meaning "temporary") families. Everyone wants a place to belong permanently, a place to know they can come back to on holidays as an adult, a place to turn to for advice or help when they are in a situation that they can't handle, a place where they'll be loved always. Many children in foster care are kept in the foster care system too long without a permanent home. But on the other hand, many children end up being adopted by their foster families, and usually you never hear of them in the news because all is well.

Will These kids be adopted or stay in a foster home?

The national standard for foster care is if the children are in care for 15 of the past 22 months, there needs to be permanency. This could mean eminently reuniting with the family or adoption. Now, is this guideline always followed? no. But it is the standard. So your Stepson's mother has about 15 months to pull it together before other resources are considered. If you are interested in taking custody of the kids, you should find the case worker and at least do visits with these kids now and not wait that long though.