The children, who range in age from infants to teenagers, are from a variety of ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds.
All foster children are court-ordered into placement.
Foster parents can indicate how many children they would accept for placement. Ideally, foster care should not be for a long period. The overall goal of each placement should be to permanently place the child either back in his or her birth family or into an adoptive family. In Pennsylvania, a Service Plan must be developed when a child is separated from his or her birth family. Within the Service Plan, goals must be set along with the expected times for accomplishing each goal.