Foster Care Service

What Is Foster Care?

The overall purpose of foster care is to place children in a safe home with the goal of having them be reunited with their permanent families. Foster care embodies a temporary home for children that offers them safety and love. Children can be placed in foster care for many reasons, some of which include a history of neglect, abuse, and other behavioral factors. These children come from different cultures, communities, and diverse backgrounds. 

We assist foster parents by working in partnership with DHS and offering parent training that is necessary to meet the diverse needs of these children. 

Foster Parents

Foster parents are dependable adults that work hard to support families and children during very difficult times. A foster parent is part of a team that is dedicated to supporting vulnerable children. Every foster parent not only has an impact on families going through a crisis, but also acts as a role model within their community. They show others what it means to create a positive influence and care for others no matter their race or cultural background. 

Being a parent of children who have had difficult upbringings can be challenging. The opportunity to care for children who would greatly benefit from your love and support is possible when you become a foster parent.

By changing the lives of one child at a time, you can make a difference in the community and create a brighter future. Please contact us if you want to learn more about our certification program.  

Regardless of your orientation, qualified foster parents have their costs covered by the state through financial reimbursement. Couples who are not legally married are unable to be licensed. As far as where you live, both owners and renters are considered for housing placement as long as they pass inspection.   

Training Guidelines 

Proctor parents, sometimes referred to as professional parents, can be single people or married couples who take care of children who are placed in their homes. Additionally, proctor parents are trained on how to meet the requirements of fostering. These include:

• Nutrition education and providing healthy meals

• How to create companionship and build trust

• How to guide a child to a brighter future through positive decision making

• Creating a healthy social network for a child

• Looking after and improving the physical health of a child

• How to care for the emotional aspects of a child depending on their background and age

• Creating a safe and nurturing environment for a short-term or long-term period of time

Together Facing The Challenge 

At QYS, we work for youths and families using a systems and team approach. Individual, family, and group therapy, medication management, psychosocial rehabilitation services, and other skill groups are all included in the programming. We also provide mentoring and tracking for the youth in our care. Emergency staff members are available round-the-clock.

Using the essential components of the Together Facing the Challenge (TFTC) curriculum, we provide extensive training, support, and peer mentoring to assist your journey through Foster/Proctor care. 

TFTC provides: 

• Comprehensive training for both foster parent 

• Builds therapeutic relationships

• Explores trauma-informed care

• Develops proactive parenting strategies to reinforce positive prosocial behaviors

• Teaches cooperation 

• Addresses thoughts, feelings, and behavior

• Interrupts the conflict cycle 

• Utilizes problem-solving techniques

• Promotes cultural sensitivity 

• Teaches relevant life skills

• Takes care of self

Resource Family Approval Program (RFA) 

RFA is a family-friendly and child-centered caregiver approval process. It combines the current foster parenting certification process, approval process, and guardianship process. RFA eliminates the overlap and duplication of these existing processes to make things much more simple. 

The Resources Family Approval Program is more efficient and cuts out the need for duplicate procedures. It standardizes approval criteria for all caregivers, irrespective of the child's case plan. Additionally, it includes training for all families and relatives and a comprehensive psychosocial assessment, along with an inspection of the home environment. It also enables families to better meet the requirements of children and creates a smooth transition to permanent status.

What Exactly are Resource Families?

A caregiver who provides foster children with out-of-home care is known as a Resource Family. Individuals, couples, and families make up Resource Families. They may be related to a child or have never met the child before. All caregivers in the child welfare and probation systems who were previously referred to as foster parents, approved relatives, or an approved Non-Relative Extended Family Member are included in the Resource Family. They are authorized to provide care on a temporary basis or permanently through adoption and legal guardianship.

Children benefit greatly from the support of resource families. Child Welfare Services (CWS) and Probation Departments diligently seek to identify, consider, and evaluate relatives, family friends, and those closely tied to the family as the primary placement option whenever out-of-home placement is required to keep a child safe. The placement agency tries to actively recruit and support Resource Families that can keep the child or youth connected to their community and culture when relatives are not an option. In order to successfully return a child to their parents, Resource Families collaborate with CWS or Probation staff and the child's family. A child's sense of security, permanence, and well-being are the goals of a Resource Family.

For more information on how to become a Resource Family, get in touch with QYS today.