About Foster Care for Prospective Families

Idaho's vision

To have foster and foster-to-adopt parents who are a support to families, not a substitute for parents. There is also a need for families who are interested in adoption if, after supporting the child and their family, reunification is unsuccessful.

  • Foster parents are part of a professional team, which includes parent(s), social workers, court-appointed special advocate/guardian ad litem (GAL), court personnel, therapists, school staff, and other professionals.
  • Foster parents support birth families toward reunification.
  • Foster parents provide safe, loving, temporary care for children whose parents cannot safely meet their needs. The majority of children or youth who cannot be safely reunified with their parents/guardian will achieve permanency through their relative, kinship family, or foster parent. 
  • Foster parents support children in maintaining their connections to their community, school, family, friends, and faith.
  • Reunification is the primary goal and the most common outcome.
Who can foster or foster to adopt?

Foster parents are as varied as the children needing homes. Successful foster parents are everyday people from all races, religions, incomes, and educational backgrounds. No two families are alike. They are:

  • Single, married or divorced
  • Able to financially support their own family
  • Own or rent a safe residence, with space for a child
  • Can work with social workers and/or therapists and other support people
  • Have no parenting experience, or have children 
  • Have not been convicted of child abuse or neglect, spousal abuse, a crime against children or a homicide
  • Are flexible, energetic, and able to care for a child
  • Work in or outside their home, or are retired
  • Are open to learning new things
  • Can talk with social workers about themselves and their families

Are there any age restrictions to foster or adopt?

  • You must be 21 years old to become a licensed foster parent
  • Idaho law requires an adoptive parent to be at least 25 years of age or 15 years older than the child they are adopting
  • There are no maximum ages for foster care or adoption

Children in foster care have been through a lot of life-changing and traumatic experiences in their short lives. The maturity, coping skills, experience, and knowledge you’ve accrued over the years will aid in caring for a child as a foster and/or adoptive parent.

A family on an ipad sitting on a cough
A mother and father sit with their daughter and baby
Annual Foster Parent Survey Analysis
Idaho Foster Care Statistics for State Fiscal Year 2020
3,000
Idaho children in out-of-home placements each year
1,500
Idaho children currently in foster care
65%
Of children in foster care are reunited with their families