- Sense of humor
- Ability to say No
- Good boundaries
- Sense of respect for children and their bio families
- Ability and willingness to listen
- Willingness to build good memories
- Able to Teach family values
- Non judgmental
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Live the life and teach the values.
"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn away from it.” Proverbs 22:6
We’ll Help You:
- change a child’s life
- with financial compensation
- with training & support
- with 24/7 on-call assistance
- with respite care
Fostering a child is some of the most important work a parent can do for a child without parents. It is not always the easiest job and it requires a lot of hard work, patience, and dedication on the part of foster parents. However, there is nothing in the world that can replace the feeling of helping out a child; and in the end, that is why we choose to work with parents and children.
Becoming a foster parent is a process. It begins with making a decision on wanting to welcome a child into your home and ends with getting a certification through Atkinson Youth Services. Below are the middle steps needed to become a foster parent:
- Must be 21 years of age.
- Must attend an orientation completed by Atkinson Youth Services staff.
- Must be financially self-supported without the child reimbursement.
- Must complete a list of forms and paperwork.
- All persons over the age of 18 that live in the home must be fingerprinted and be able to obtain criminalrecord clearance and a child abuse index clearance.
- Must obtain a TB test that has a negative result and pass a general health exam or physical.
- Must have a current driver’s license and show a DMV printout and proof current auto insurance.
- Must obtain current First Aid & CPR training (if a home has a body of water such as a pool, spa, pond, parents must obtain current Water Safety Instruction.
- Must obtain 12 hours of training and be willing to attend monthly trainings held by Atkinson Youth Services staff.
- Must be willing to comply with current Community Care Licensing Standards.
- Must be willing to complete a home study and interview questions from an Atkinson Youth Services staff.
The above list looks like a lot, but with the help of our professional Social Workers, we will help you navigate through the certification process. In addition, our Social Workers are a continual support, resource, and confidant to our foster parents and we encourage our foster parents to always contact our Social Workers if there is a problem.
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