Distinction Between Foster Care and Adoption
- Foster care involves temporary and short-term care for children.
- Adoption results in permanent custody through a legal process.
- Foster care does not transfer parental rights, unlike adoption.
Eligibility of Children for Foster Care
- Children approved for adoption awaiting transfer to adoptive parents abroad.
- Children with parents facing crises such as illness, extreme poverty, or family relationship problems.
- Children of single parents unprepared for parenting responsibilities.
- Abandoned children found in hospitals or public places.
Foster Care and Its Relationship to Family
- Foster care is child-centered, emphasizing the importance of family care.
- It is an alternative to institutional care when birth families are unavailable or unable.
- Foster care supports the notion of family rather than undermining it.
Duration of Foster Care
- Typical foster care placement lasts about three months or 100 days.
Qualifications and Requirements for Foster Parents
- Must be single or married.
- Financially stable to support the child’s needs.
- Physically and mentally fit.
- Proven parental capability.
- Willingness to undergo orientation, assessment, and foster parent training.
- Ready to submit necessary documents and recommendations from community or workplace leaders.
Responsibilities of Foster Parents
- Act as surrogate parents providing full-time daily care.
- Create a nurturing environment supporting physical, social, mental, and emotional development.
- Maintain a safe, sanitary, and healthy environment.
- Address the child’s immediate needs and problems.
- Coordinate with the supervising child welfare agency's social workers.
- Comply with agency policies and procedures governing foster care.
Roles and Duties of Child Welfare Agencies
- Ensure legal protection and security of foster families and children.
- Conduct periodic supervision through visits or meetings.
Application Process for Prospective Foster Parents
- Interested individuals apply through accessible child welfare agencies.
- Agencies match the needs of children with the applicants’ capacities.
Partner Child Welfare Agencies and Their Service Coverage
- Kaisahang Buhay Foundation (NCR, Region III, Cebu): caters to orphans and abandoned children aged 0-9 years.
- CGM - Home of Joy (Mandaluyong, Bagong Silang, Caloocan City): serves orphans and abandoned children aged 0-12 years.
- Norfil (NCR, Regions III and IV, Lapu-Lapu City Cebu): caters to orphans, neglected, abandoned, and street children aged 0-12 years.
- CRIBS (Marikina, NCR): services orphans, abandoned, and street children aged 0-9 years.
- Parenting Foundation (NCR): caters to children aged 0-9 years.
Each agency provides specialized care and is accessible for foster care applications.