What is Foster Care?

Foster care is a program designed to provide temporary parenting to children who have been removed from the home of their biological parents due to abuse, abandonment or neglect. Although counselors work to resolve issues and maintain children in their homes with their own families, in many cases, the problems can’t be solved and the children must leave their homes and be placed in foster care to ensure their safety and well-being.

Foster parents must understand that their unique and important role is to care for a child, knowing that a child may be returned to their birth family, or relatives, or may be placed for adoption. Foster families receive a daily board rate for each child in their care, and Medicaid covers almost all of the children’s medical expenses.

Foster families can care for a child for a single day, several weeks or months, or several years. Foster families look just like your family. They are ordinary people with a love for children and a desire to make a difference. Foster parents are single adults living alone, married couples with or without children, and retired couples, whose children are grown.

If you are interested in fostering, please contact Family Services of Metro Orlando (FSMO) at: 1-877-6MY-KIDS.