What is Foster Care?
Foster care is the temporary care of children who have been removed from their own families. Children are removed from their families for a number of different reasons, including abuse and neglect, substance abuse, and family crisis. The children are in the legal care of the State, but—like every child—they need a family to care for them.
The purpose of foster care is to provide a safe, loving and supportive home for those children who cannot live with their family or on their own. While the child is in foster care, a team consisting of caseworkers, mental health providers, life skills workers, and other professionals work to provide services to the child’s family, with the goal of healing and strengthening the family so that the child can be reunited with parents who are able to provide safe, nurturing relationships intended to last a lifetime.
The primary goal is to reunite children with their biological families; however if this is not possible, foster families may be given the option to provide permanent foster care or to adopt the child(ren) in their care.
Our agency works closely with all 64 Colorado counties and child welfare agencies within those counties to provide foster care for children ages 0-21. Every year in Colorado about 8,000 children need foster homes. We believe every child deserves a permanent home where they are loved and cared for. We would love to talk to you about the children who need you.
Factors that may contribute to a child being removed from their parent’s care:
- Abuse, neglect or emotional maltreatment
- Substance abuse
- Domestic violence
- Sexual abuse
- Physical and/or mental illness
- Insufficient family/community supports
- Legal issues
- Poverty/homelessness
- Medical circumstances
- Some parents are unable or unwilling to raise their children
Children usually continue to visit their own families, and when appropriate, they may be reunited with their biological parents. If reunification with family cannot safely occur, the children’s foster family may have the opportunity to adopt them.
Foster Parents
Foster parents help children grow and heal by providing them with stability, affection, consistency, and nurturing.
Foster parents need to have positive parenting skills, patience, stability, maturity, and a love of children. It is also helpful to know and understand childhood development.
Foster parents are part of an integral team that addresses each child’s individual needs. The team can include the child welfare caseworker, the child’s attorney (known as the Guardian-ad-litem or GAL), the child’s therapist, school officials, and the child’s Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA).
Provide an opportunity for children and their families to heal, grow, and develop so that the child can safely return to his or her parents or other appropriate family members.
Requirements:
- Must be at least 21 years old
Be able to pass a full CBI & FBI background check
Be in good physical and emotional health.
Complete CPR/First Aid training
Have the ability to maintain a safe, structured, healthy, and stable household