Foster Care

Goals

The main goal of foster care is reunification. The primary aim of all child welfare services is to preserve and strengthen the child’s own home, whenever possible, to remedy the home situation and to return the child to his/her natural parents. Children enter foster care because of neglect, abuse, a family crisis or the child’s own needs. Foster homes are intended to be places of safety and comfort for a child.

Foster Care enables children to:

  • Attend the same schools, team events, cultural and social activities
  • Remain close to their siblings, other family members and friends
  • Remain in their communities

Decide If Foster Care is Right for You

Being a foster parent can be an incredibly rewarding, life-altering challenge, if you are ready to take it. You can decide when it is the right time. Children in the foster care system need a special kind of person. A successful foster parent is patient, an advocate, likes kids, a team player and able to love and let go when the job is done. 

Child Foster Care Initial Documents

**Once these documents are returned to Polk County Social Services, you will receive additional forms and the 2nd packet to the licensing process. 

Child Foster Care Training & Resources

www.fosterparentcollege.com (if you are not registered please contact your licensor on how you can become registered)

www.fosteradoptmn.org (great reading materials for foster care, post adoption, mental health, parenting tips, kinship care, and lots more)!

www.childwelfare.gov (information about children’s welfare, family preservation, adoption and guardianship, family centered practice, and much more). 

  1. Foster Families
  2. Foster Care Lic.-Adult & Child

Foster Families

Foster families may provide:

  • Longer term care as families work through the reunification process. When reunification is not possible, foster families sometimes make a permanent commitment to their foster children
  • Respite care for children whose families may need a short break from their daily routine
  • Temporary, short-term care for children in crisis