Foster parents work with the agency and with the child's birth parents. They take children for medical care and to school events. They may facilitate visitation between the child and the birth parent in their own home. They mentor the child's parents so that the child and the parents can be reunited. In the event that the child cannot return home, the foster parent may become the child's adoptive parent.
Foster parents help each other with issues such as mentoring, training, teamwork, and respite care.
They have regular meetings and provide peer supports. The Department of Public Welfare provides a grant to the association to recruit and retain foster parents. The Department provides additional support to the group via a liaison to the group and by participating in all its meetings and annual conference.