Breaking Down the Different Kinds of Foster Care

Thinking of becoming a foster parent? (Thank you -  you are so needed!) One of the first decisions new foster parents will have to make is what kind of care they would like to provide. It can be overwhelming and confusing to sift through all of the different terms in the foster care world. Let's take a moment to break them down and hopefully take away some of the confusion.

The following are all of the different kinds of foster care services our program provides:

• Respite Care
• Short-Term Foster Care
• Traditional Foster Care
• Professional Foster Parenting

You may notice a term that is missing from our list: foster to adopt. We choose not to use this term, because although it is popularly used by many foster care agencies, it can be misleading. The purpose of foster care is reunification, and the term foster to adopt incorrectly leads people to believe that they are only fostering children for the purpose of adopting them. This can be very heartbreaking for foster parents if their foster children do not end up becoming available for adoption, but more importantly, it does a disservice to children and their families who are working toward reunification. We strive to set them up for success from the very beginning of a placement, starting with making sure their foster parents can be fully on board to support reunification efforts.

All of our foster parents, no matter which kind of care they would like to provide, are required to be in support of reunification as the first goal of foster care. There is one other option for those who are only interested in adoption and do not wish to be part of reunification efforts: SWAN Matching Adoption. This service seeks to match families with children who are already at the end of their foster care journey and are no longer able to be safely reunified. In order to qualify for this program, families must be searching for children who are over the age of 10, larger sibling groups of 3 or more, and/or children who have significant special needs. There are currently over 3,000 children in PA who meet these criteria and are waiting for a family. You can learn more about SWAN Matching Adoption and view waiting children's profiles here.

Before defining the different kinds of foster care, let's start with a brief overview of how the child welfare system works and who the children are. Children enter foster care for a variety of reasons including abuse or neglect, parental substance abuse, mental health, inadequate housing, lack of a safe caregiver, or a combination of several of these factors. A child's experience in care usually begins with a report of child abuse or neglect, which is investigated by the county Children and Youth agency. The agency's job is to evaluate whether the child is truly at risk, and what can be done to help them safely stay at home. If it is determined that they can't remain safe at home, the county will then place them into foster care and look for a foster home for them. That's where we come in! As a vendor agency, we contract with several local county Children and Youth agencies to provide foster homes for the children in their care.

Once placed into foster care, the child will remain in care until it is determined that they can be safely reunified with their family. During their time in care, their parents will be given a case plan and their progress will be monitored through regular court hearings. If reunification efforts are unsuccessful, then another permanency option is needed. The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) is a federal law that aims to prevent children from lingering in long-term foster care by requiring counties to begin making a permanency plan for a child once they have been in care for 15 out of the last 22 months. If no other family members are available to care for the child and they can't be safely reunified, then the foster family is often given the opportunity to adopt them.

In a perfect world, the child will remain in the same foster home until they are able to go home to their family, or are adopted. Unfortunately, there are situations in which children need to move from one home to another (often referred to as "disruptions"), and some kids will end up moving to many different homes. In the worst case scenario, children need to be placed in group homes where htey live with staff instead of in a family setting, or worse - in government buildings, hotels, or even the hospital. We are currently experiencing a critical shortage of foster homes and seeing these situations happen far too often.

So how can you help? Here are the types of foster care services you can choose from:

Respite Care

Respite providers, as the name implies, provide respite care for children already placed in a foster home. There are many reasons respite care may be needed, including:

• Foster parents traveling out of state/country and can't bring their foster children along
• Foster parents needing a short break
• Foster parents having a family emergency or health crisis
• A child making a disclosure of mistreatment by a foster parent, which must be investigated

Respite providers go through the same licensing process as traditional foster parents and are fully certified to provide foster care. Many foster parents like to start off providing respite care to "get their feet wet" and experience what it is like to care for children in foster care. You are welcome to be open for respite care in addition to other services like traditional foster care or matching adoption.

Since respite placements are usually pre-planned, respite caregivers typically have some advance notice of a placement and are often able to be in contact with the child's foster parents to coordinate details of the respite. Like all kinds of care, you can always say yes or no to each request based on your availability and you can set the parameters around the ages, gender, and number of kids you are open to caring for. Respite placements can range from a day or two to a few weeks and can be for any child in foster care, ages 0-21.

Short-Term Foster Care

Short-term foster care is a new program we are launching to combat the current foster care crisis and the number of children who are not able to find homes. Short-term foster parents agree to take children on an emergency basis and care for them for up to 30 days, during which they will observe the children's habits, likes and dislikes, and special needs and help the caseworker come up with a comprehensive transition plan to help them successfully transition into a long-term home. Having the observations of the short-term foster parents is incredibly helpful as there isn't much information known about the children's needs when they are coming into foster care in an emergency situation, and many long-term foster parents are hesitant to commit to children they don't know a lot of information about. 

Some situations that may lead to a child needing a short-term placement could include:

• A child needing immediate placement with little to no information known about them
• A child who has to leave their current foster home and needs a place to stay while a new foster home is searched for
• A child who is known to only need care for a short time, such as a parent being hospitalized and unable to care for them temporarily

Short-term foster parents can also set the parameters of how many children and what ages and gender they would be open to caring for. This is a great option for people who want to help but can't make a long-term commitment, or people who are only available at certain times of the year such as teachers who want to provide care in the summer, or parents of college students who have an extra bedroom while their kids are away at school. Similar to respite care, you can also be open to providing short-term foster care in addition to other services.

Traditional Foster Care

Traditional foster care is for families who would like to open their home to children in need and are willing to keep them on an open-ended basis. The length of placement varies greatly and is almost always impossible to predict. They may only stay for one day, or they could end up staying forever. Many foster care placements happen on an emergency basis, and there can be little to no information known about the child at the time of placement. There are some cases where there may be more advance notice or a little bit more information known, and at times you may have the chance to ask some basic questions to learn more about the child before accepting the placement.

Children needing foster care range from newborn babies to 21-year-old young adults. Youth between the ages of 18-21 can choose to voluntarily remain in foster care as long as they are working or attending school. These extra years allow them to remain supported while launching into adulthood. Some children needing care are single children, while many are part of sibling groups. Ideally, we do our best to keep sibling groups together whenever possible. Families who are open to providing care for siblings are very needed and appreciated! Children have a wide range of special needs, but one thing they all have in common is that they need compassionate, trauma-informed care to help them heal. We provide TBRI training for all of our foster families so that they are ready to meet the unique needs of children from hard places.

Professional Foster Parenting

Professional foster parenting is a very unique, specialized kind of care that could be an option for a unique type of family. Professional foster parents receive a significantly higher per diem rate for the children in their care and agree to have one parent who is fully available to provide a higher level of care, and accept placements at any time. This could look like a two-parent family who has one parent that works and covers the household expenses while the other parent is available for foster care, or it might look like a single parent who is retired and/or has a financial situation that does not require them to work outside the home.

Children who would require this kind of a placement have higher levels of need - whether that is medical, behavioral, or another type of need. They may be involved with juvenile justice. They may be unable to be placed with other children or attend a traditional child care center. They may have many appointments and/or visits and require a parent to be available to transport them.

Professional foster parenting can be a truly rewarding opportunity to make a big difference in the lives of very vulnerable children, many of whom have been told over and over again that there is nowhere for them to go. Our team of caseworkers and permanency specialists will provide robust training and wraparound support for these families to ensure that they have the resources to meet the needs of all of the children in their home. We would love to talk more about whether professional foster parenting could be an option for you! 

If you would like to learn more about becoming a foster family, or have questions about the different types of services available, please contact us - we would love to talk to you!

Want to receive helpful foster care and adoption-related content in your inbox each month? Sign up for our email newsletter here.