Becoming a Foster Parent

A Critical Lifeline for Children in Need

Licensed foster parents provide stable, temporary homes to children removed from their biological parents because of abuse or neglect. As a foster parent you may be asked to foster a child for a few weeks, a year or more, but family reunification is always the goal unless the biological parents are deemed permanently unfit. Children whose parents’ rights have been legally severed live in foster homes until they are adopted, and in many joyful cases foster parenting leads to adoption. Foster parents can be married or single and with or without children of their own.

Foster parents attend 27 hours of classroom training given by one of the individual agencies that supervise children in the foster care system. Foster parents go through background checks and a home study to become licensed. Foster parents may specify the children who live in their home by age, gender and needs. They are paid a monthly stipend by the state which contributes to the cost of caring for each child that is placed in their home.

The need for dedicated, loving foster parents is great, and fostering is a wonderful first step toward adoption.

If you are interested in becoming a foster parent contact:

Citrus Family Care Network
401 NW 2nd Avenue
10th Floor
Miami, FL 33128-1740

Phone: 305.455.6000

mhginquiries@citrusfcn.com