About
Foster Care is a temporary Service that provides short-term care and
supportive services to children who are unable to live at home because of child
abuse or neglect. Foster children live in family foster homes and group care
settings.
Twenty-three counties in Maryland and Baltimore City operate foster care programs.
Foster care caseworkers work with the birth and foster families to develop the
most appropriate permanency plan for each child. Reunification with parents,
placement with relatives, or adoption are examples of permanency plans. Also,
some children receive services that teach them to be independent young adults if
for some reason they cannot reunite with their family. The foster care caseworker
assists the birth and foster families in obtaining the services, such as counseling
and health care, needed to meet the goals of the permanency plan. Each foster care
program also works to recruit, train, approve and retain foster care providers.
The Foster Care Program in the State of Maryland features a family to family theme
that encourages foster parents to play an active role with the birth family in
planning and carrying out the goals of the permanency plan. Using the family to
family premise, foster children are place in homes that are in their own community
thereby keeping the children connected to their home school, friends and resources
within their neighborhood. Besides offering family to family foster care services,
adolescents that are unable to reunite with their family are eligible to receive
Independent Living Services that will lead toward self sufficiency.
Foster Care Program Goals
- To place all foster children into a permanent living arrangement within a
maximum of 15 months from the date they entered foster care.
- To increase the number of foster parents willing to work with birth families.
- To assist teenagers in the foster care system in becoming self-sufficient.
Who are the Children in Foster Care?
Children in foster care are children from your neighborhood. They are children who
want to remain attached to their families despite their experiences. They are
children whose families need the help of your family. They can be of any race,
infants to teenagers, and of either sex. They are abused or neglected, and some
have been exposed to domestic violence or substance abuse.
At the end of May 2002, there were 9,728 children in foster care placements. The
foster care program expenditures for FY 02 were million dollars. Foster care is
funded with a combination of state and federal monies and child support.
Relationship between the Social Services Administration
and the 24 Local Departments of Social Services
The Social Services Administration writes and interprets regulations and policies,
monitors the local departments' compliance, and provides technical assistance to all
24 local departments of social services.
Click here for
information on how to apply for this program.
|
|
|
