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Provide temporary care for children and youth in need, in a healthy, nurturing family environment.
Foster Care is the temporary living arrangement made for a child when Children's Services is unable to quickly locate and support suitable kinship care.
Foster care is the full-time, temporary care of a child in your home. Ideally, a child in foster care returns home to their birth family as soon as possible.
When a swift return home is not possible, alternate longer-term care plans are made to place the child with a relative or community member through one of the following:
A child coming into care can be an infant, child or youth under the age of 18. They can be of any gender, sexual orientation, or ethnic background. Some children need short-term placements while others need longer-term living arrangements. Almost all will have experienced some form of trauma from being removed from their home or previous placements.
Children entering foster care may:
A caseworker from Children’s Services (CS) or a Delegated First Nation Agency (DFNA) becomes involved with a child’s family when:
After meeting with the family, the caseworker assesses both the child's and the family's needs. As well, the caseworker takes into account the family's strengths and ability to provide safety for the child. The caseworker then makes recommendations about further Children's Services involvement with the family. Only when all reasonable attempts to meet the child's needs within the family have failed, or when the child's safety is threatened, will the child come into care.
Children living in foster care, like all other children, require love, comfort, security and stability. Alberta’s foster care program is based on the belief that family and community are the most beneficial and desirable environments for raising a child. Whenever possible, a child in foster care should live in a culturally-appropriate home.
Foster caregivers:
Foster and kinship caregiver stories
Foster caregivers come from all cultural and social backgrounds and are of any relationship status including common-law and same-sex relationships. Foster caregivers are part of a team that supports the best interests of the child – they’re mentors, caregivers, role models and support systems who will provide a temporary family environment for a child.
To apply, you must meet the following criteria:
Foster caregivers cannot:
Support for foster caregivers is provided through government caregiver programs and staff, agencies, other caregivers and the Alberta Foster Kinship Association.
These include, but are not limited to:
Learn more about compensation rates, training and other supports.
To find out about becoming a foster caregiver, contact your local Children’s Services office or Delegated First Nation Agency who will assign a worker to help you through the application process.
During the screening and placement process, you will complete the following:
For more information, refer to the Foster Care Handbook.
Upon approval, you’ll be issued a foster home licence and assigned a foster care support worker who will provide ongoing support and training.
Licenses are issued annually to demonstrate your ability to safely care for children in your home.
For more information, refer to the Foster Care Handbook.
After a home is licensed, the foster caregivers and children in care receive ongoing contact and supports. This includes:
New homes are reassessed six months after they’re licensed and annually thereafter.
Caseworkers have regular contact with the child and caregiver, especially in the early days of placement.
Ongoing training is required to support caregivers in the fostering process. Learning about how to meet the different needs of infants, children and youth can be challenging and exciting. A learning plan is developed for each caregiver family to assist in providing the best possible care for the child coming into care.
Find caregiver services in your area:
Delegated First Nation Agencies
Or call:
Alberta Foster Kinship Association
Toll free: 1-800-667-2372
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