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Our Services

Foster Care

 

Foster care occurs when children can’t live safely at home and an appropriate non-custodial parent, relative, or close family friend is currently unable or unwilling to care for them. The court can give temporary legal possession to Child Protective Services (CPS) and that agency temporarily places these children in foster care. A home that is usually not familiar to the child. Foster care is meant to be temporary until a permanent living arrangement is found and CPS no longer has legal custody of the child.

Our Agency provides foster care by collaborating with CPS to identify stable and loving homes for the children.  We guide, coach, and advise potential foster parents through the application process to prepare their homes and families for a foster child.  Once they have successfully completed the process to become foster parents, our caseworkers will offer support, resources,and information to assist them in meeting the needs of the children. We provide training opportunities, meetings for updates and “table talks” where foster parents share ideas and provide support to one another.

 


 

 

 

 

 

Kinship Care

 

Kinship care occurs when youth live with relatives, such as aunts, uncles, grandparents, siblings, extended family, or fictive kin (those known to the family). Kinship care, in its many forms, has become a focus in meeting the needs of children and youth involved in the child welfare system. When the home environment is unsafe, kinship placements are the preferred option because they can help to maintain family connections and cultural traditions and minimize the trauma of separation. Kinship care is a longstanding tradition in communities of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds which continues to prevail.

We provide the same level of support and care with an adult providing kinship care as we do for foster parents.  Typically, with kinship care the child and adult know of one another or are familiar. This can often lead to an easier transition.  However, each case is different.


 

Adoption

 

Adoption is the legal process by which a child joins a family different from his or her birth parents. Adoption is a permanent, lifelong commitment to the child.  Once the child is adopted, they have the same legal rights as children born to the parent(s).

Children in foster care can be adopted by their foster parents once the biological parental rights have been terminated. Our Child Placing Agency staff will assist you throughout the process.  

 

Frequently asked questions