Criminal records and sexual abuse checks must also be completed for each person applying to be a foster parent. Once the application is completed, Culmer said she tries to match the child with a family. Ideally, she said, she tries to keep all children in the same school district, but that is not always possible. Location is not as important, she said, as the quality of the family in which the child is placed. The goal of foster care, which people sometimes forget, is to reunite a child with his biological parents.
Kids are in limbo until they know where they belong.
However, Culmer said the legislation is not always ideal. She said sometimes parents fight for parental rights in court, which takes at least six months. In addition, parents can appeal a judge's decision to put their child in foster care, which can take up to a year. In the meantime, the child is in foster care.