Blue Earth County, Minnesota : Human Services

BLUE EARTH COUNTY

HUMAN SERVICES

Untitled Document

Children Foster Care

Foster Care Informational Brochure - PDF

Become A Foster Parent

Contact Joanna Petersen (304-4167) for more information on becoming a foster parent.

Foster parenting is a commitment to help a child and family through a specifically difficult period by providing consideration, understanding, and guidance to the child.

Foster parents may refuse a particular placement if they feel the placement is inappropriate for them or for meeting the specific needs of the child.

Foster parents do receive some financial support – a monthly reimbursement to cover basic room, board, and clothing expenses plus coverage for medical and dental expenses. Foster parents are not paid for their services.

Foster parents may be able to adopt a child in care; however, the goal of foster care is to return the child or youth to his or her family as soon as possible. Any consideration of adoption is after all comprehensive efforts at returning the child home or to relatives are exhausted. Specific policies regarding foster parents as an adoptive resource are available from your child-placing agency.

Who can be a foster parent?

Foster parents are people who are genuinely concerned about the well-being of children and families. Foster parents recognize that, although they do the best they can, not all families have the physical, intellectual, or emotional resources to provide children with what they need to grow into healthy, happy, productive adults. Foster parents are acutely aware of the crises, stresses, and social problems that result in the abuse and neglect of children or in the adolescent behaviors of truancy, running away, or ungovernability. Foster parents are people who realize that sometimes family conflicts become so severe that for their safety and well-being, children must be removed from their own homes until problems can be resolved.

Foster parents are the people who, having come to understand all of these realities, choose to become the substitute families for these children in need. Foster parents provide the daily basics: food, clothing, shelter and the love, stability, and guidance, and discipline that all children need. Foster parents do all these things knowing that the child may only be with them for a short time. They know that foster parenting will not make them rich or famous. Foster parents are people who believe that children are worthy of their best efforts every day.

They represent different ages, races, and income levels. Most foster parents are married, but there are single foster parents too. Many foster parents have biological or adopted children living at home. Some have never had children of their own, and still others have raised their own children to adulthood. There are foster parents who go to your church, work with you at your office or factory, or live in your neighborhood.

The basic requirements for becoming a foster parent generally include that you:

are 21 years of age or older;
are in good physical and emotional health;
meet your state and local requirements for housing safety, space, and equipment;
have the skills, attitude, and stamina to effectively deal with the many behaviors and feelings displayed by children and youth;
have a non-punitive attitude and can demonstrate some level of acceptance toward the parents of the children in care;
can work cooperatively with the representatives of the foster care agency;
are accepting of the temporary nature of foster care and can help a child transition back to his family or move on to a permanent or adoptive placement.

Who needs foster care?

Children and youth may need foster care home placements for a variety of reasons:

they have been emotionally, physically, or sexually abused;
the physical or mental incapacity of their parents;
they are abandoned;
the drug, alcohol, or other chemical abuse by their parents;
the child’s behavioral or emotional problems; or
the separation, divorce, or death of their parent(s).

Children and youth needing foster care home placement come from a variety of social and economic backgrounds; from every race, religion, and nationality; and every age from birth to young adulthood.

Some children and youth may need specialized foster care services due to specific emotional or behavioral problems; cultural or language differences; physically or medically handicapping conditions; or emotional or mental disabilities.

All children and youth in foster care require specific considerations from foster parents:

Emotional considerations. Separation from their home, family, and friends is traumatic. Foster parents help ease the hurt and pain that separation can cause.
Behavioral considerations. Separation reactions vary. Some children withdraw. Others act-out at home, school, and in the community. Foster parents help cope with the hurt, anger, and grief the child or youth is experiencing.
Special needs considerations. Some children and youth bring some special needs with them into foster care placements – specific medical, emotional or physical needs; pregnancy; or other brothers and sisters needing a sibling group placement. Foster parents may need special training or support services.

Types of Foster Care

There are a number of types of foster care to choose from. Some families choose to provide one kind of care. Others do a variety of care.

Ongoing care - Care to children who need to be out of their family home for one month to a year or more.

Emergency shelter care - Care to children who are experiencing a child protection crisis or immediate non-protection personal or family crisis requiring a separation from their family. Expected length of placement is less than one month and often shorter.

Respite care - Care provided for families who need brief (several days) and often regular time away from stresses they are experiencing in the family. Considered part of a plan to prevent the need for longer-term placements.

Relief care - Care provided to children already in ongoing foster care for the purpose of supporting the work of the ongoing foster parent by allowing time to nurture their own biological family needs.

Permanent care - A rare form of care provided to children who cannot return to their biological family and are not appropriate for termination of parental rights and adoption. Length of placement is to the age of majority

Steps To Become Licensed

Below is a general outline of child foster care licensing procedures.

1. Contact Joanna Petersen (304-4167) expressing your interest and questions about becoming a Blue Earth County foster parent.

2. If interest continues, the prospective applicant will arrange attendance at an informational meeting. Orientation workshops will be conducted every six to eight weeks, which is required prior to licensing.

3. If, after the orientation workshop, the family is still interested, an initial interview with a licensor is made. The applicant will be given a foster care packet, which will include the foster family licensing rule, applicant background study forms for all persons 13 years of age or older in the household, physical forms for all persons in the household, personal questionnaire, application, home safety checklist, three personal references, and other materials pertaining to the program.

4. When the application and applicant background studies have been filled out, signed, and returned to the agency, an appointment will be made for a home-site inspection. A visit from the state fire inspector may be required.

5. When the previous listed requirements have been met, the licensor will do a home study. This will include several interviews with prospective foster parents and their children. The contents of the home study will include family relationships, family activities, discipline techniques, communication skills, expectations of foster care, and ages and types of foster children desired.

6. The agency licensing process may take up to three months.

7. When the application is completed, the agency shall forward its licensing recommendations to the Department of Human Services within 20 working days.