Prospective foster parents must fill out an application and will be linked with a support specialist to help guide them through the licensure process

You will then begin the process of gathering necessary documents and completing your foster care homestudy.

A foster care homestudy is a document created in coordination between a foster family and an assessor that shows how a prospective family qualifies for foster care and also reveals some of the personality and characteristics of each individual family. Assessors help foster families to think critically about their own strengths and weaknesses and help them to determine training needs as well as the types of qualities and characteristics they are ready for in foster children in their home.

You will begin attending training classes. To be certified as a Family Foster Home you must complete 24 hours of pre-service training. You will be reimbursed for the time you spend in training.

It's exciting to be a foster family! Once you are certified to provide care, you will be contacted with referrals for children who are in need of a foster home. We will ask you to consider placement with children we feel match well with your family. You are not obligated to accept every referral. You get the last word on which placements you accept into your home.

Once a child is placed in your home, arrangements are often made very quickly. It may only be a few hours between learning about your placement and meeting your child for the first time. This is why we ask you to consider alternative care arrangements before you become certified. Many employers are flexible and leave from work associated with the placement of foster children is protected under the federal Family Medical Leave Act, but a strong support network of friends and family is priceless!

Foster parents do not receive an income for caring for children in their home. What foster parents do receive is reimbursement to offset the costs associated with raising children (raising children is expensive - you must pay for a child's food, clothing, entertainment, activities, and your utilities will increase due to higher usage). Foster care reimbursement funds are not taxed because it is considered reimbursement and not income.

Foster parents do not need to provide medical insurance for their foster children. All foster children have their medical expenses covered by Medicaid.

Children in foster care are part of a treatment network of individuals who care and support them. Your family will receive monthly visits from caseworkers, both from New Mercy Outreach and their placing counties. Our children come from all over the state of Ohio. Caseworkers are there to support your family and your foster children.

Many of our foster children have visits with their biological family. We expect foster parents to transport children to these visits if the visits are scheduled in the foster family's home county, but if the child has a visit or medical appointment located outside of the the foster family's county New Mercy's transportation team will help to transport your child to where they need to be.

You will have joined a network of amazing foster families. You will get to know others who foster through training, fellowship opportunities, and mentoring relationships with other foster families. These families will help to strengthen you, provide support for you, and even offer respite (overnight care when for whatever reason the foster family may need to be separated from their foster placement(s) for a brief time period). These foster families are your best support network, and you will become theirs!