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About Foster Parenting
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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 is examples of permanency plans. If for some reason a child cannot reunite with their family, some children receive services that teach them to be independent young adults. 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 recruits, train, approve and retain foster care providers.

The foster care program in 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 are geared toward self sufficiency.
Who are the Children in Foster Care
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Children in foster care are children from your community. 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 age, race from infants to teenagers of either sex. They are abused or neglected and some have been exposed to domestic violence or substance abuse.

At the end of January 2009, there were 9,074 children in foster care placements. The foster care program expenditures for FY 08 were $350,000,000 million dollars. Foster care is funded with a combination of state and federal funds and child support.

Publically approved foster parents receive a monthly rate for the care of foster children. The regular foster care rate is provided to children who do not require unusual care and supervision. The foster parents would provide basic physical care, well-balanced meals, maintenance of home, clothing, supervision of child's health and dental care and offer the attention and affection appropriate to the child's age.

Some children may require unusual care and supervision in a foster home. These children may exhibit extraordinary physical, emotional or behavioral issues. These might include physical handicaps, emotional disturbances, severe learning disabilities, etc. Foster parents that receive intermediate rates are required to participate in various treatment plans, trainings, provide prescribed physical care, and other tasks as deemed appropriate.


Regular Foster Care Rate:    
Regular Care Infant Through Age 11 $27.45 $835
Regular Care Age 12 and Older $27.94 $850
Emergency Foster Home Shelter Care:    
Per Diem Retainer Fee $30.00  
Intermediate Foster Home Care:    
Infant Through Age 11 $31.23 $950
Age 12 and Older $31.72 $965
Copyright 2009 Maryland Foster Parents Association