There are a lot of factors that should be considered when becoming a foster parent. Committing to being a foster parent involves sharing many resources with a child or teen who may have never had the opportunity to experience what you have to offer.
These resources can include space in your home, help with homework, rides to and from school and appointments, your love, support, and encouragement, fresh meals, a family environment, and much more.
To so many of the wonderful therapeutic foster parents we work with, sharing these resources comes naturally and is a part of the strong desire they feel to give back to the children in their care.
There are some resources, however, that can’t come out of your abundant love or sacrificial hospitality and that is financial resources.
We know that providing the needs of a foster child or teen does come with a financial commitment and without any help or support, this factor alone would disqualify many of the wonderful foster parents we work with from providing the loving home they do to children and teens in our care.
Financial Support In Fostering
We never want finances alone to be a reason to or not to become a foster parent. For that reason, we partner with you and the state in which you live to offer financial support in fostering.
More often than not, this comes in the form of a per diem. This payment will vary based on your circumstances and the needs of the children in your care and state in which you live in.
This money is given to you in support of anything you need to purchase to care for and support the children in your home. From clothing, to food, to hygiene supplies and more.
Additionally, as a therapeutic foster care agency, we work with each of the families and children in our care to determine other forms of support available. This could come in the form of Medicaid health insurance, clothing or transportation reimbursements, food stamps or WIC programs, and free lunch programs through their school system.
For more specific information of your state’s financial aid for foster parents and other financial support that may be available to you as a prospective foster parent, contact our therapeutic foster care agency, Benchmark Family Services.
We have years of experience walking foster families through the complexities of financially providing for a foster child with ease.
As long as you have a heart open and willing to love and provide a safe and encouraging home for children and teens in foster care in Kentucky and Indiana, we will assure the rest will fall into place.