Foster Care & Adoption

Foster care is intended to be a temporary solution for children who have been removed from their birth family homes due to neglect, abuse, abandonment, or other endangerments to their health and/or safety. Every effort is made to help the child remain or return with his or her family, however, when reunification (or the process of returning a child to his or her birth family) is not possible, then adoption occurs as a permanent outcome in the best interest of the child. The purpose of adoption is to place children who have been permanently and legally separated from their birth parents with a new family.

What is Adoption?

The purpose of adoption is to place children who have been permanently and legally separated from their birth parents with a new family. It is a social and legal process which gives new parent(s) the same rights and obligations as biological parents.

What is Foster Care?

Foster care is intended to be a temporary rather than a long-term solution for children who have been removed from their birth family homes for reasons of neglect, abuse, abandonment, or other issues endangering their health and/or safety. Every effort is made to help the child remain with his or her family, however, when a child comes into foster care they are most often placed in a foster home. The foster family works as a team with the local department of social services, the biological family, the child (when applicable) and any additional community partners.

Interested in becoming a foster parent?

The temporary and complex nature of foster care places special demands on foster parents. They are asked to take someone else's child into their home, care for the child and treat the child as a member of their family. It is essential that foster parents understand and are willing to meet the physical and emotional needs of children within the context of their culture. The foster care program provides the necessary support and training to enable foster parents to provide daily care and supervision for the child in care.

Role of a foster parent : Foster parents are asked to provide a safe, stable, temporary and caring atmosphere for a child placed in their home. Foster parents become part of a team effort to support the child and implement the plans made for the child. This involves working with biological parents, courts, local departments of social services and other involved agencies.

The King George Department of Social Services is now offering streamlining through Our Foster Highway system to become a foster parent. Sign up today here.

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