Foster Care / Kinship Care

Loftus-Vergari and Associates is actively recruiting foster parents for children and teens in your community and surrounding areas. A foster parent needs to be committed to providing a safe and nurturing family environment for a child until he or she can return home to live with their biological family.

Supporting Pennsylvania’s Children

Loving families, much like yours, play a pivotal role in the success of Pennsylvania’s child welfare system. Presently, there are approximately 15,000 children in temporary foster care across the state. As a foster parent, you have a unique opportunity to make a profound and enduring impact on the lives of these children.

Individuals interested in becoming foster parents must be at least 21 years old. Becoming a foster family involves a thorough background check to ensure the child’s safety. The agency conducts criminal background checks and child abuse clearances for everyone in your home aged 14 and older. While financial wealth is not a prerequisite for foster families, the approval process involves a comprehensive assessment of your overall family situation and history, including financial stability. The physical aspects of your home are also evaluated to ensure it offers adequate space and meets all safety standards for a child.

Several other factors are considered:

• Your ability to provide care, nurturing, and supervision.
• Maintaining an emotionally stable environment.
• Community connections with family, friends, and neighbors.
• Your relationship with your own children (if applicable).
• Capability to meet the unique needs of the child.

In addition to receiving training and support, foster parents are reimbursed for the expenses associated with caring for a foster child, and healthcare costs are typically covered.

Foster parenting demands a unique type of person who can provide stability to children in crisis when their own homes are temporarily unsuitable. These children still require the fundamental elements all kids need: security, nurturing, and guidance. Foster parents step in to provide these essential elements on a temporary basis.

Most children remain in foster care for a brief period, with the majority eventually returning to their biological families. A foster home becomes a vital sanctuary, safeguarding children, helping them cope with their grief and loss, and preparing them for their eventual reunion with their families. This role demands special individuals—those who can welcome children into their homes knowing that, when the time is right, they will lovingly let them go.

While most foster children reunite with their biological families, if the court determines that it is not in the child’s best interest, parental rights may be terminated, leading to potential adoption. Foster parents can play a crucial role in helping the child transition to an adoptive family, or they may choose to adopt the child into their own home.

Depending on the duration of a child’s stay in foster care, foster parents often have the most insight into the child’s needs and preferences. Their valuable input is acknowledged and appreciated in any decisions concerning the child’s future. Adoptive parents need not feel threatened by the bond and affection shared between the child and their foster family. This attachment does not diminish the love the child can develop for their adoptive parents. By forming strong bonds with their foster families, children are better prepared to navigate life’s challenges because they experienced love and care from everyone involved in their upbringing.

Transitioning to Adoption

If a foster family decides to adopt their foster child, they will undergo an adoptive family profile or home study. This process includes training, coaching, and interviews regarding the lifelong commitment to adoption, distinct from the temporary nature of foster care. Even though foster parents have cared for the child and undergone previous foster home studies, the same legal requirements apply to them as to any adoptive parent.