Become A Foster Parent

At Legacy Family Services our greatest desire is to help you become a foster parent. With over a decade of experience working in foster care and adoption our system of preparation and education is second to none. Though you may feel hesitant to take the following steps we will help you with each and every step, to a successful and satisfying end. If you’ve ever thought about being a foster parent, we commend you, and invite you to join us at Legacy Family Services today by applying to be a foster parent. Fostering is a unique way to serve children which will bless and inspire you for the rest of your life.

Qualifications for Foster Parents

The following is a list of minimum basic requirements to become a foster parent: 

  • Be at least 18 years old.
  • Pass a Criminal Background Check which includes finger printing all adults in the home.
  • Have a regular source of income to support your own monthly expenses, separate from reimbursement from the state for foster children.
  • Must have adequate space in the home
  • Have a car, valid car insurance & a clean DMV report.
  • Must pass a basic physical administered by a doctor, including TB test
  • Have some flexibility in your schedule to accommodate the foster children’s court ordered visits, therapy, medical appointments, etc.
  • Your home must pass a state required home safety check.
  • You must supervise foster children when they are not in school or in supervised activities.
  • Complete 12 hours of training
  • Must be trained in CPR and First Aide
  • Must have a working landline telephone
  • Weapons must be locked up and guns and ammo stored separately
  • Medications and poisons locked up
  • Must not use corporal punishment

 

 

   Important in the selection criteria are the following: 

  • Desire and capacity to parent a child not born to you 
  • Flexibility and adaptability 
  • Willingness to seek help 
  • Openness to self-exploration and change
  • Commitment and stability
  • Ability to accept a child into your home as well as let them go. 

 

   Characteristic of Good Foster Parents

  • Tolerant
  • Patient
  • A belief that people can change
  • Compassion and Empathy
  • Sense of humor
  • Belief in your own competence as a parent
  • Be able to work as part of a team

Download your Free Guide to Fostering

Learn how to become a foster parent

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How To Become A Foster Parent

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Letter From Our CEO

Martin & Brooke Hansen

Dear Potential Foster Parent,

Let me start by expressing my thanks for your interest in becoming a Foster Parent.  My wife and I are parents to three children, two of which are now grown adults.  We continue to experience great joy in our children, but we also know how challenging parenting can be.  At this point in our lives, we are seeing much of the fruits of our labor. We have found that our children can provide us with our greatest challenges and successes.

Parenting is an incredible act of love and sacrifice.  Foster Parenting takes parenting to a whole new level.  I can think of few other endeavors in life that will be more beneficial than to help another human being gain a proper foundation, develop a support structure, and find emotional security.  If done right, you will have a positive effect on a child for the rest of their life.  In fact, your efforts may affect generations.

I believe that very few things in life, that are of real value, come without a price.  Not necessarily a monetary price, but there definitely is a cost.  Good things generally require sacrifice, patience, effort, and sometimes enduring sorrow.  Foster Care is no different.  The work you do will require deep understanding, the ability to forgive, the ability to listen, and most importantly the ability to love with no expectation of anything in return.  In the short term, you might feel unappreciated.  You might even feel like you are not making any progress.  These are typical feeling experienced by parents, but often magnified when you foster a child.  Take courage, the fruit comes later.

Foster Care may or may not be for you and your family.  We totally understand.  In fact, we have great respect for those that make honest determinations based on their own abilities and family dynamics.  Unlike a typical company, whose goal is to sell their product to as many customers as possible, Legacy’s business model is to ONLY place our product in the hands of willing, capable, and trained foster parents.  Our product is not a thing, but a human life, and Legacy’s business model says that children have the right to the best foster homes available.  Consequently, the process of certification is more than just training.  It is also an extended interview process.  During the certification process, we ask that you evaluate your abilities and circumstances relative to the information we will be providing.  Likewise, you will be filling out a lot of paperwork that will give us in sight into you and your life.  If all goes well, you and Legacy will both come to the conclusion that Foster Parenting is for you.  The decision to not move forward as foster parents doesn’t make anyone bad people, it just means that the circumstances were not quite right.

We hope as you go through the training, you will ask lots of questions.  We hope you will put our trainers to the test.  Get a good understanding of what to expect.  Thank you for considering our Agency and the possibility of fostering a child.

Sincerely,
Martin Hansen

President / CEO
Legacy Behavioral Services, Inc.

  How do I become
  a foster parent?

       Steps

 

   • Make Application

 

   • Attend Orientation

 

   • Complete Paperwork 

 

  • Pass Background Check

 

  • 12 hours of Training

 

  • Health Screening

 

  • Home Inspection

 

  • CPR First Aid

 

  • Home Study

 

   Certification

 

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Bakersfield – Main Office

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