Foster Care
Our foster families give support and healing to children in need
Foster Care and Adoption Foster Care Information
The Salvation Army Children's Services is honored to partner with families and individuals who step forward to welcome foster children into their homes. There is always a need for foster families so we recognize how precious each of our families are. We make sure they have the information, tools, and support they need to not only provide the best possible care and healing to children from hard places, but to also to feel encouraged and valued.
When you become a foster family with The Salvation Army Children's Services you become our teammates in providing trauma-informed care to children who are unable to live with their biological families. Together, we give children the childhood they deserve while their biological families work on being able to provide a home environment that is safe for their children to return to.
Together we can give precious children and teens their best chance at a bright future.
Program Schedule
Timezone: -05:00 USA Eastern Time (DST)
Location: Foster Care and Adoption
Foster families provide short-term or long-term temporary care to children whose families are unable to provide safety or stability for them. The goal of foster care is to reunify the children with their biological families.
Timezone: -05:00 USA Eastern Time (DST)
Location: Foster Care and Adoption
Legal-risk foster families provide traditional foster care. If their foster children aren't able to be reunified with their biological family, legal-risk families are willing to adopt the children. Legal-risk foster care is sometimes referred to as foster to adopt.
Timezone: -05:00 USA Eastern Time (DST)
Location: Foster Care and Adoption
Link: https://easternusa.salvationarmy.org/eastern-pennsylvania/childrens-services/short-term-foster-care/
Short-term foster families provide interim relief care to other foster families. Short-term families care for children to give their foster parents time for self-care or to support the foster parents in an emergency situation.
Families who choose us...
- Want personal attention from an agency who knows and cares about their family.
- Want to be informed and prepared.
- Are looking for an agency with decades of experience serving children and families.
- Appreciate being heard and being able to contribute to the culture of the agency.
- Want to be surrounded by other foster families who encourage and bolster one another.
- Expect their agency to provide them with quick responses, accurate information, and advocacy.
- Understand the need for trauma-informed training and value an agency with TBRI-trained staff.
- Want their foster parenting journey to be a team effort with their agency.
- Value the balance of a small, personal agency with the support of an international aid organization that's been serving families for more than 150 years.
Teen Foster Care
There are thousands of teens waiting for foster and adoption placement in Pennsylvania. You can change the trajectory of a teen’s life by becoming a foster or adoptive parent. The teen years are a special time of making lifelong memories and building a positive sense of self-worth. Be the safe, caring family a teen can count on, and you’ll experience the joys of guiding a teen into a brighter future. Whether you are single, married, an empty nester, or have no parenting experience, teens need you, and we can help you be the family that shows up for their future.
Fostering or adopting a teen is an incredibly rewarding journey, but we understand you may have questions. Below are some of our most frequently asked questions:
- Most teens in foster care did not grow up in a nurturing environment.
- Even though teens seek independence, their need for connection with a family who can be supportive, caring, and encouraging doesn’t end.
- Birthdays, proms, graduation…there are so many beautiful life-long memories you can make with a teen who needs you.
- The cost of raising a teen is the same as a younger child; you’ll just pay for different things (rather than diapers, it’s cell phone bills; not formula, but groceries to fill the pantry)
- Higher monthly support is provided to parents fostering teens to help offset costs like housing, clothing, allowance, activities, medical insurance, and other common expenses.
- While you need to be self-supported, you don’t need to be wealthy or even a homeowner to provide a loving home for a teen.
- Adoption through the foster care system is essentially no cost to parents.
- The state of Pennsylvania offers low and no cost opportunities for higher education for children who have been in foster care.
- Teens don’t need constant supervision like babies/infants; they typically like to sleep in.
- Teens are seeking independence in a loving environment.
- Teens require much less daily care than a young child—no dressing, feeding or bathtime struggles, so you are freed up to do more fun things together!
- While all kids in foster care have experienced trauma, teens are better able to communicate their needs, so you can work together on solving challenges.
- If you can provide a safe home, commitment, love, and supportive guidance, then you have the most important pieces needed to foster a teen.
- First-time parents, singles, families with other children, and empty nesters can all provide a stable, loving home for a teen.
- Teens need someone to listen to them, to show them their worth, to teach them to make good decisions, and to celebrate their accomplishments. Parenting experience isn’t required to do any of those things.
- And never forget, it takes a village, and The Salvation Army will be there to help make sure you have the training and support you’ll need.
Other Services
