Foster parenting is a charitable commitment that involves giving your time, effort, finances and love to raise a child who does not have a permanent home. Foster parents provide many benefits to society as well as to the children they raise. Not every adult is suitable to be a foster parent. There are strict requirements in order to raise a foster child. Those who meet the requirements generally find that raising a foster child is not only an act of service but personally rewarding as well.
Statistics
As of 2006, the Child Welfare Information Gateway states that that there were over 510,000 children in the foster care system. Of those, 46 percent were being raised by non-relative foster parents. Twenty-four percent of those children were living with relative foster parents, such as aunts and uncles who have accepted them in under the foster care system. The majority of the remaining children were living in either group homes, institutions, trial home visits or pre-adoptive homes.
Requirements
According to the Child Welfare Information Gateway, requirements to be a foster parent vary from state to state, though they have general similarities. In general, a person must be at least 21 years old and have enough room in his home to house a foster child. The Child Welfare Information Gateway states that that a foster parent must live in a home that meets sanitary and fire safety requirements and must also make enough money to provide for his own family, independent of foster care reimbursement. Finally, a foster parent must have no history of drug or alcohol abuse and must pass a criminal background check.
Responsibilities
In addition to the requirements to become a foster parent, there are ongoing responsibilities that foster parents have in order to raise their foster children. The website Adopting.org states that a foster parent must love a child who comes from a difficult background and who may not love her back. Foster parents are responsible for setting clear limits and boundaries for the child, while accepting guidance from social workers involved in the foster care system. Foster parents are responsible for the general health and well-being of the child while the child is in their care, and yet they must also be prepared to let the child go when called to do so by the foster care system.
Reimbursement
The Washington Post states that in every state, the cost of providing basic care for a foster child is more than the reimbursement rate that foster parents receive from the government. The Post explains that pay varies state to state for foster parents. In some states, the pay is as little as $200 per month, while other states provide up to $800 a month for living expenses for the foster child. The pay rate that the foster parent receives also depends on the age of the foster child.
Adoption
The idea that a foster parent would adopt the child that they are fostering used to be unheard of, according to the Child Welfare Information Gateway. In the last few years, however, adoption of a foster child has become increasingly popular for foster parents. One of the changes that occurs when a foster parent adopts a child is that the child becomes the full legal responsibility of the former foster parent, rather than the foster care system. The foster parent is no longer reimbursed monthly when he adopts the child. Adopting a foster child is becoming so popular that in 2002, foster parent adoptions accounted for half of all adoptions of children in the foster care system, according to the Child Welfare Information Gateway.
