Responsibilities:
- Providing 24/7 care, support, nurturance and supervision to the child until his/her family can resume responsibility or an alternate permanent family can be located
- Supporting a child’s cultural and ethnic identity
- Providing positive, instructive non-physical discipline
- Meeting the child’s needs for learning, recreation, positive mental & physical health and healthy relationships
- Assisting the child and birth family in transitioning back home or to an alternate permanent family
- Maintaining appropriate confidentiality
- Complying with all agency policies and procedures
Rewards:
- The chance to help children feel good about themselves
- A feeling of pride in doing a meaningful and important job
- Overcoming challenging experiences
- The opportunity to meet and work with new people
- The knowledge that you are changing a child or adolescent’s life for the better
- A chance to use special talents and knowledge
- The opportunity to make a lifetime of difference for a child or adolescent
What Services do Foster Parents Receive?
Resource parents are not “in it alone.” They receive the following assistance for the care of their foster child or youth:
- Financial assistance
- Medicaid (medical coverage)
- Child Care
- WIC (Women, Infants and Children)
- Reimbursement for special needs/events
- Access to a resource parent support group
- On-going training on relevant topics
- Ongoing support from your foster home coordinator and the child’s foster care social worker
- Access to a resource parent contingency fund for damage, loss done by a foster child or youth
