Foster Care Program
Foster care is a program for children in state custody who are unable to remain safely in their homes. Children in foster care stay with a family who provides safety, nurturing, support, and role models for change.
- A child or youth may be placed in foster care as a result of a juvenile court order finding of abuse, neglect, or dependency.
- Child and Family Services offers a 90-day maximum voluntary foster care placement.
- Every effort is made to keep children with their families unless the safety needs of the children or legal mandates indicate otherwise.
- Once a child is placed in the custody of Child and Family Services, the goal is to provide permanency, safety, and enduring relationships, along with a sense of family, stability, and belonging in the least restrictive setting possible.
- In determining a permanent home for a child, Child and Family Services reviews the following priority for placement: kin of the family of origin, foster family, adoptive family, permanent custody and then guardianship, or independent living.
- Many families in Utah are willing to take foster children into their homes and care for them in a kind and loving manner until they can be returned to their own home or placed into a more permanent home.
WANTED: FOSTER PARENTS! A safe haven is needed for children while they and their families heal. Foster parents are needed throughout Utah for children of all ages and races. Foster parents are especially needed for sibling groups of children from the same home, medically fragile children, teenagers, and minority children. Foster parents receive financial reimbursement and health care for their foster children. Please see our information about the Initial Screening of Prospective Resource Families or click here for additional information on becoming a foster parent.