Foster Home

A foster home is a temporary residence for a child in the U.S. foster care system. In these households, the foster child lives with an individual or family while the courts determine whether the foster child will be able to reunite with his or her birth family. There were just over 423,000 children in foster care September 30, 2009, according to the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System estimates for July 2010. The average length of time spent in a foster home tallies over two years. However, a majority of children stay in the system about 15 months, according to the AFCARS report.

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The placement of children in the foster system vary. About a quarter of children live are fostered by a relative. Just under half of foster placements are in homes with individuals who are not related to the child. Four percent of children live in a pre-adoptive home, 10 percent reside in an institution, six percent are cared for in group homes and the remaining children live in supervised independent living, trial home visits or have runaway.

Many children in the foster system will have special emotional, behavioral or physical needs that may require specialized attention. These children are likely to be placed in a therapeutic or treatment foster home in which the parents will receive training and supervision unnecessary for other foster parents.

To become a foster parent, one must pass a home study and may be required by his or her state of residency to complete a certain number of classes and training before fostering a child. For some states, basic foster care training requirements may be as small of a commitment as six hours or as many as 45.

Fostering a child is a means to provide a supportive and healthy household for him or her to live in while issues at his or her birth parent or parents' home and lifestyle are evaluated by the state. Although about half of children in foster care will be reunited with their birth parent or parents, a foster household will be instrumental in introducing a positive environment where immediate needs are met and the child can safely experience childhood in a way that may have otherwise been neglected.