Start Foster Care

06/10/2023

https://startfostercare.org/2023/06/on-netflix-a-foster-care-angle-chris-rock-mrs-chatterjee-vs-norway/

After a productive May National Foster Care Month we thought we would share two recent shows on Netflix to appreciate some of the perspectives of the general public on the foster care system. In ca…

04/17/2023

The highlighted categories in the table below are racial demographics overrepresented in the foster kid population. This signals that there needs to be a change in how foster care is managed.

Fortunately, the Social Work community and all US States (that we have spoken to) generally agree on solution steps like reducing child poverty, emphasizing kinship care, relating to culture, and diligent foster parent recruiting can help meet the challenge

The highlighted categories in the table above are racial demographics overrepresented in the foster kid population. This signals that there needs to be a change in how foster care is managed. Fortu…

04/10/2023

Foster parents are kind and caring people. It takes a good heart to step up and care for a child unrelated to you (foster care) or even related to you (kinship foster care).

Motivators for Foster Parenting, intrinsic and extrinsic motivators of foster care.

04/10/2023

There seems to be a lot of expectations from foster parents. And the trouble is that these expectations can be unclear for both foster parents and agencies.

Checklist of expectations from prospective foster parents.

04/09/2023

Happy Easter!

04/09/2023

https://startfostercare.org/2023/03/how-many-kids-in-foster-care-in-the-us-top-ten-states/

As we celebrate 2023 May National Foster Care month, here is the latest publicly available data. In 2021, an estimated 391,098 children were in foster care in the United States. This number has bee…

09/07/2022

A useful way to think about becoming a therapeutic foster parent is to know that you are specially trained for the role.

Broadly there are two categories of foster kids. Traditional Foster Care involves caring for children who are "normal" kids not dis-similar to kids from a regular biological household in terms of behavioral issues. Therapeutic (or Treatment) foster kids are kids that need a higher level of care and....

05/21/2022

May is National Foster Care Month. And this year the focus is on kinship care and reunion with bio families (biological or birth families) where possible. Kinship This post explores the idea that neighbors can be considered as kin for the purposes of “keeping families together.”
https://startfostercare.org/?p=1175&preview=true

05/09/2022

May is National Foster Care Month. And it’s a great idea for Foster Parents to plan a party with Birth (Biological) Parents of the foster child. This can work wonders for foster kids where reunification is a possibility. Reunification is a core goal of the 2022 National Foster Care Month.

May is National Foster Care Month. And it's a great idea for Foster Parents to plan a party with Birth (Biological) Parents of the foster child. This can work wonders for foster kids where reunification is a possibility. Reunification is a core goal of the 2022 National Foster Care Month.

04/22/2022

Mother’s Day on the second Sunday in May coincides with the National Foster Care Month. This year it is on Sunday May 8, 2022.

So it’s timely to think of ways how everyone can celebrate Mother’s Day in the Foster Care ecosystem by saying “I love you,” to the foster child. This is the reverse of the biological child saying “I love you” on Mother’s Day. 'sDay

Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May coincides with the National Foster Care Month. This year it is on Sunday May 8, 2022.So it's timely to think of ways how everyone can celebrate Mother's Day in the Foster Care ecosystem by saying "I love you," to the foster child.

04/06/2022

Why is the culture of the Foster Kid's biological family important in foster care?

National Foster Care Month, Kinship, Culture

03/14/2022

Based on academic research and our experience, here is why Foster Parent training is so important:

Foster parent training, Why foster parent training is important, Research evidence, avoiding placement, ability to handle disruptive behavior, retention of foster parents, breakdown, increased foster parent satisfaction, foster care system.