What are the steps to becoming a foster parent?

1. Attend one of our monthly orientation meetings
2. Fill out and return/submit the agency's application form
3. Attend a 10 week Foster/Adoptive Parent Training Program
4. Have a homestudy completed by our agency
5. Provide medical statements and personal references

Basic requirements

1. You must be at least 21 years old
2. You can be married, single or living in a partnership
3. Have your own source of income (job, public assistance, pension, or social security)
4. Have a bed for each child and 45 square feet per child in each bedroom (2 children fit in a 9' x 10' room)
5. Have working smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors
6. Have every person in the home 18 years and older fingerprinted
7. Have every person in the home 18 years and older cleared through the child abuse registry
8. Provide a safe, healthy, nurturing home
9. Be medically/physically fit to care for children

Training and supports provided to foster parents

1. A stipend for food and board based on the child's age and need for special services
2. Clothing allowances
3. Medical insurance for each foster child
4. Payments to licensed daycare providers for working parents
5. Support from an individual caseworker
6. Training to learn about caring for children in foster care
7. Ongoing in-service trainings

Who are the children who come into foster care?

1. They can be between the ages of newborn and 18 years old
2. They can be any ethnicity
3. They are from Ulster County
4. They can be a single child or be part of a sibling group
5. The children are either removed from their homes because of abuse, neglect, or the parents are unable to care for them
6. They can have special, physical or emotional needs
7. They may represent all educational levels and require different needs

Be a part of a team

1. Foster parents are expected to work with our agency to provide a temporary safe home for children, while their parents work toward the return of their children. During that time the foster parents share parenting of the child.
2. Foster parents are expected to treat the children as they would their own children by taking the children to doctor appointments, attending school meetings, and providing love, guidance and nurturance to the children.

Our greatest need

1. Foster parents who will accept sibling groups of 3 or more
2. Foster parents from ethnically diverse cultures
3. Foster parents who will accept teenagers into their homes and provide a loving family support system for the rest of their lives. Our teens need someone to be a strong role model for them and to offer them guidance as they learn to live independently.
4. Foster parents from the LGBT community and foster parents that have an interest in LGBT youth

To download the PDF version of this information, please click the link under Document at the bottom of this page.

1091 Development Court
Kingston, NY 12401
Phone: 845-334-5400
Hours: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday-Friday

New York State Foster Care
Adoptive and Foster Family Coalition
AdoptUSKids