By becoming a foster parent, you have the opportunity to make a tremendous impact on a child’s life. Our foster parents offer a loving, nurturing home where trust can take root and children have the opportunity to grow and prosper. “My foster mom wasn’t trying to be a mother figure, she was a mother figure,” says Robert, age 15. When you choose to become a foster parent, your positive impact on a child will positively impact you as well – knowing that you have made a difference. Several Rising Ground programs work closely with foster parents to provide temporary shelter for children and youth as they work to be reunified with family or to move onto adulthood with skills and resources to succeed. In addition to our Family Foster Care and temporary Respite programs, we also work with bilingual / Spanish-speaking foster parents for Unaccompanied Migrant Children through our Passage of Hope program to provide temporary, transitional shelter to migrant children as we work to connect them to a permanent sponsor in the U.S. To learn more about Passage of Hope foster parenting, see our English & Spanish flyer here.

Personal Support for You

We understand that parenting can be challenging at times and that foster parenting is no different. When you decide to become a foster parent, you’ll be given needed tools and information, including a comprehensive orientation about your responsibilities, legal rights and what to expect as a foster parent. We provide a casework team with teen specialists, on-going training, and 24-hour crisis support. Our training includes instruction on parenting skills, child development, understanding the impact of trauma in these children’s lives and the connection between trauma and their behavior, and foster parent licensing.

Support from Our Foster Parent Association

When you raise a child you build a network of support within your family, among friends, and with other parents. For those working with our Family Foster Care program, we offer the added support of our Foster Parent Association as a network of friendship, guidance, assurance and encouragement. Our Foster Parent Association, We Have a Heart, connects you to other foster parents who can share their first-hand experiences and solutions. Together with staff, the association gathers for picnics, trips to amusement parks, and other recreational activities that help you to build personal ties with the children in your care and with other foster families.

Are You Interested?

Foster parents are anyone who has a big heart, a home and the willingness to help a child at a time of need. No special background is required. They come from all races, religions, national origin, all levels of education and lines of work, are single or married or domestic partners. Come to one of our orientation sessions to learn more. To become a foster parent you only need to:

• Love children!
• Be older than 21 years of age.
• Have a steady income
• Pass a physical examination and a background check.
• Attend trainings and having your home certified as a foster home.

What supports can foster parents expect?

• Ongoing training
• 24-Hour crisis support
• Financial subsidy for each child
• Health insurance for each child
• Membership in our Foster Parent Association, We Have a Heart

Children coming into care range in age from birth to teenagers with varying backgrounds and levels of needed support. We are always looking for loving homes, especially for:

• Groups of siblings
• Teens
• Teenage mothers and their babies
• Children who have emotional disorders.
• Youth who are court involved.
• Unaccompanied migrant youth in temporary care while they are being connected with family members in the United States.
• Youth who are lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender or questioning their sexual orientation.

Foster parents who care for these children receive additional training and supports as needed. Bilingual and Spanish-speaking foster parents are encouraged to apply, particularly for our Passage of Hope Unaccompanied Migrant Children program.

Adoption

The principal goal of our foster care programs is to keep families together as we work with parents to address the challenges that led to involvement in the foster care system. In occasional instances in which parental rights are terminated, foster parents in our Family Foster Care program can go on to adopt children who have been in their care. We would be happy to talk with you about this possibility.

Join Us Today!

Take the first steps to making a difference and changing a life — complete a questionnaire here and attend one of our orientation sessions. We are happy to answer all your questions and encourage you to get in touch to learn more.