FOSTER PARENTS:  A PART OF THE TEAM

Being a foster parent requires love, understanding, and a lot of responsibility.  You are parenting someone else's child, who comes to you with established values and ways of behaving.  Indeed, parenting someone else's child may be more difficult than parenting your own children.

Because you and the child's caseworker are both concerned about the child's best interests, it is vital that the two of you develop a trusting relationship.  In fact, as a foster parent, you will be part of a team that will include not only the child's caseworker, but also the child's birth parents.  Therefore, even though the responsibilities of team members are somewhat different, the goal is the same:  to make a child happy and safe in a temporary home with a substitute family.