Question & AnswerQ&A (CSC ANNOUNCEMENT NO. 5, S. 2000)
Foster care is the provision of substitute parental care to a child or children by a licensed foster family when the biological parents are unable to provide adequate care temporarily or permanently. It is a planned child welfare service for short-term periods.
Foster care involves temporary and short-term care of children by foster parents, whereas adoption grants permanent custody of the child to adoptive parents through a legal process.
Children eligible for foster care include those approved for adoption awaiting departure, children whose parents are in crisis or facing problems, children of single parents not ready to assume responsibilities, and children abandoned in hospitals or public places.
No, foster care is child-focused and respects the need for a family by providing an alternative family care instead of institutional care when the birth family cannot provide proper care.
Typically, a child stays for about three months (100 days) or more with foster parents.
Foster parents must be single or married, financially stable, physically and mentally fit, demonstrate parental capability, willing to undergo orientation/assessment/trainings, and able to submit required recommendations from community or office leaders.
Foster parents act as surrogate parents providing full-time care, nurture the child's physical, social, mental, and emotional needs, maintain a safe and healthy environment, attend to immediate needs and problems, collaborate with child welfare agencies, and comply with agency policies.
Child welfare agencies provide legal protection and security to foster families and children, and perform periodic supervision through visits and meetings.
Interested individuals may inquire and apply through any of the partner child welfare agencies accessible to them or whose needs align with their capabilities.
The program promotes volunteerism in government and aims to provide temporary family-based care as an alternative to institutionalization, addressing the welfare of children whose birth families cannot adequately care for them.