Answers for families considering foster care, kinship, and adoption.

Kinship family applicants should complete the application and approval process within 60 days. A staff member from the adoption unit works with kinship families to ensure the timeline is met. Traditional foster family applicants do not have a timeframe to complete the application and approval process; however, the average time of approval is approximately 90 days. Geneva Mathuse, Recruiter, works with traditional foster families to ensure they move smoothly through the approval process.

Most often children are not able to be adopted when they enter into foster care, as the child's parents have parental rights. If a child in foster care does become eligible for adoption, the family the child is placed with is most often given the option to adopt the child.

This is a common fear and often families do become attached to children they care for. Many children continue to have contact with foster families after they have returned home to their parents.

LVA has an on-call system for families to utilize in the event there is a situation or emergency after typical business hours. LVA has an assigned caseworker and supervisor on-call every day to assist with situations after hours.

Formal: When a child enters foster care and is placed with a relative or family friend, those who want to be formal kinship must go through the application and approval process to become a licensed foster home and receive a monthly stipend to care for the child. Informal: When a child enters foster care and is placed with a relative or family friend, those who would like informal kinship do so without the legal involvement of family court and without financial assistance from the child welfare system.

Yes. Birth parents have the right to know where their child is placed when they are in foster care and have the right to weekly visitation with their child. Foster parents are responsible for taking children to and from a visitation site and are encouraged to communicate with birth parents, so they have updated information on the care of their child.