Pass screening requirements related to child abuse and criminal history clearances. The county children and youth agency must make an assessment of each person's foster parent capacity. The foster home residence will have to meet certain minimal requirements. In addition, foster parents must agree to participate in agency approved training. The Department is committed to encouraging foster parents to participate as members of the treatment team for the child in their care.
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.