Foster Parenting

Foster parenting differs from adoptive parenting in many ways. However, the largest difference is the impermanence of a foster child's stay in a home. In adoption, the parents are meant to assume all legal parental responsibility and in foster care about half of the 400,000 children are in temporary custody of foster parents while waiting to be reunited with their birth parents.

Foster parenting can be difficult because children can stay from anywhere from a few months to over two years with a foster family. Many of these children are involuntarily removed from their birth family's home due to child neglect and abuse. Many foster children come into the system from a dysfunctional lifestyle to one that has been deemed stable by a case worker. Trying to provide for a child raised in that environment may demand a great deal of emotional commitment to make the child feel welcome and acclimate him or her to a healthy dynamic where his or her main focus doesn't have to be paired with adult burdens and worries that many foster children tend to take on.

To become a foster parent, adults must be over 21 years old. They must also pass a home study, various background checks and provide proof of their ability to be a good parent in a stable household (via reference letters and personal interviews). Depending on the state in which the foster parent resides, he or she may also need to attend a certain number of pre-placement training courses. On occasion, foster parenting can lead to adoption if the foster child's birth parents have their rights terminated by a judge.