Frequently Asked Questions About Foster Care

If you’ve ever considered becoming a foster parent, chances are you have a lot of questions! Many of our foster parents consider going through the training for a while before they take the leap. To help you navigate the process, we’ve compiled some of our frequently asked questions about becoming a foster parent below.

Is there a need for foster parents in this community?

Yes, there is a disparity in our county with the number of children in care and the families able to work with these children. The issue that we are finding is that we have families in our communities, but not enough who are able and/or willing to meet the needs of the children in the system.

Do I have to live in Tennessee to foster through Chambliss Center for Children?

Yes, you must be a resident of Tennessee for at least 6 months to foster through our agency.

What are the basic requirements for becoming a foster parent?

Basic requirements to become a foster parent include:

• Be a resident of the state for at least 6 months

• Live in any of the TN Valley region counties

• Be at least 25 years of age

• Be financially stable

• Be in sufficient health

• Able to pass background checks

• Must have a bedroom available in your home for a child or children

Do I need to own a home to be a foster parent?

No, you can own or rent your home.

What does the general process look like to become a foster parent?

In order to become a foster parent, you must complete the Foster Parent Pre-Service Training and complete the home study process.

How long does the training to become a foster parent take? How much does it cost?

The training is free, and classes are one night a week for two months.

Why do kids come into custody in the first place?

Children are often brought into state custody as a result of a report made to Child Protective Services. When CPS receives a report of abuse or neglect, they go to the home to investigate the claim. If it is substantiated, they remove the children from their birth families or current caregivers, and they become a ward of the state.

What is the purpose of foster care?

The purpose of foster care is to provide temporary care for children in custody until they are able to be reunified with their birth parents.

What is the difference between fostering and adopting?

The Child Welfare System seeks to provide permanency for the children in their care. Fostering and adoption both make this possible. The ultimate goal of foster care is to return the child back to their birth families, while adoption is a lifelong commitment to a child or children by making them legally a part of your family.

Are foster parents eligible to adopt?

Foster parents can adopt a child in their care if the birth parents rights have been terminated through the courts.

How expensive is fostering and the adoptive process?

Both foster care and adoption are free to individuals who go through the state and some private agencies. Typically, families that are looking only to adopt have to pay private agencies to write their home study and assist them with the adoption process.

If I’m interested in becoming a foster parent, what are the next steps?

If you are interested in becoming a foster parent, get in touch with our recruiter, Marvelle Davis. You can reach her by phone at (423)-280-3760 or by email at modavis@chamblisscenter.org.

Joy & Grace: A Foster Parent Reflection

We have the best foster parents! These families sacrifice so much to give children who have been removed from their families due to abuse, neglect, or abandonment a safe, loving, healing environment. Below, a soon-to-be adoptive mom shares her story about her family’s decision to foster, and then adopt. She beautifully expresses her love for these children, their birth family, and hope for all of their futures. 

My husband and I knew we were called to become foster parents in 2013 after attending a foster home benefit and hearing the testimony of several teenagers. We both said ‘yes’ in our hearts that day, but only under certain conditions. Our plan was to wait until our two biological children were grown and then open our home to older children like the teenagers we heard speak that night. We were very comfortable with that decision and talked about it often as our future plan. A few years later, however, our good friends (the youth pastors at our church) became foster parents. They allowed us to join them in their journey, and we began to provide respite care for them. We loved being a part of this and each time the children were with us, it filled our home with joy!  

Before long, our teenagers started asking us to foster while they were still at home. We still felt our plan was best, and we should wait. We even used the other ministries we were involved in as excuses.  After two years of refusing to even pray about it, we began to seek the Lord and consider His timing might be different than ours. We reluctantly signed up for the classes, and after our first training course, we realized God had a better plan than we did. We finished the training and began to pray for both our future foster child/children and their birth families. Honestly though, much of our praying was focused on our own family. We knew we could love foster children, but wanted to prepare our hearts to love the birth families as well. Our goal needed to be focused on reconciling the children to their own parents, and that would be our biggest challenge. We waited and prayed for four months.

Then on March 20, 2017, we got the call‒a 10-month-old and 8-year-old boys. They arrived at our home at 9 p.m., both scared and shaken to the core. The truth that God’s timing is perfect was evident that night. It was, in fact, our biological teenagers who first became the hands and feet of Jesus to these precious, traumatized boys. Honestly, the first few months of their stay seemed like a blur as our family went into survival mode. And the first time we took the boys to visit their birth family, the 8-year-old kept asking if they could come back home to stay with us. Shocked to hear this request, we kept assuring him and fighting back our own tears.  

In the months that followed, we formed a wonderful relationship with the birth family, and they were working hard to meet expected requirements. We were loving the boys as if they would never leave and telling ourselves every night that they WOULD leave. We were trying desperately to guard our hearts assuming their stay with us was temporary. During this time, we often had to declare that “all is well” and lean on others for strength and borrowed faith.

Our journey with the boys has had many ups and downs. More than once we thought they would be returning to their birth family. But repetitive bad choices by their biological family have kept them in foster care in our home. And as proof that God had a better plan than we did, we are thrilled that their adoption should be final this summer! Our boys will be our forever family and their birth family will remain a part of their story as well. God showed us that He brought ALL of them into our lives. We realize this seems strange to some people, and it certainly isn’t what we planned. But after many answered prayers, we feel honored that God is calling us to do something so challenging and want to make sure He receives all the glory! We are trusting Him daily for wisdom and strength to continue this process.

This is “our story.” We are thankful for the faith and courage of our two teenagers who wanted us to foster while they were still in our home. We are also thankful for the help and endless encouragement from our family, church family, friends, and Chambliss Center for Children. 

We hope our story encourages others to be a part of foster care and adoption in some way. Because even on the worst days, we can honestly say our boys always bring joy‒not always happiness‒but always joy! If we could describe foster care in one word it would be GRACE. Be ready to give grace abundantly; be ready to ask for grace humbly; and be ready to receive grace daily.

            By Stephanie Y., Chambliss Center for Children Foster/Adoptive Parent 

We are constantly needing new families to take the leap into fostering. If you would like to learn more about becoming a foster parent, please call 423-693-2580 or email fostercare@chamblisscenter.org.

To Reunification & Beyond

When a child enters into foster care, our number one goal, if possible, is reunification with the biological family. While that isn’t always the case and adoption or kinship care becomes the next steps, a successful reunification is something that we strive for. In some cases, the reunification with the biological family continues to include the foster parents that have come to love those children. 

One of our foster families encountered just that with a recent placement. Below, Heather reflects on her relationship with her foster children’s biological mom, both before and after reunification. 

“TO REUNIFICATION AND BEYOND”

One of the hardest things about being a foster parent is saying good- bye to the children we have shared our home and our love with.  While reunification should always be our ultimate goal, when possible, our hearts break at the thought of these children no longer being in our lives.  Sometimes, however, if you are lucky, you have built a relationship with the biological parent(s) that allows continued contact.  We have been blessed to have this relationship with our most recent placement.

In August 2017, we welcomed a 9-month-old boy, Tomas, and his 7-year-old sister, Ugenia, into our home.  The mother is from Guatemala and the children were placed with us, primarily because we are a bilingual family.  There was initial animosity from mom, because people told her that we planned to adopt her children. However, once I made it clear that this is only a step that is taken when parents don’t show interest in working their plan or recovering their children, things went more smoothly.  

The children returned to her care in May 2018.  Since that time, we have been able to spend time with them as a family and also one on one with the children.  We took Ugenia to VBS, had birthday celebrations with them, have assisted with follow up medical appointments for a health condition that required Tomas to have surgery while in our care, helped mom shop for WIC and served as emergency babysitters.  Once, when we were shopping, Tomas kept saying “mommy, mommy” and, even though she would answer him he continued until she said “oh, the other mommy” and laughed. It felt good to know she was ok with him calling me mommy.  

My greatest gift came yesterday, though, when the mom sent me a text to wish me happy Valentine’s Day (known as the day of love and friendship in Latin America) and thanked me for our unconditional love for them and told me they love us as well.            

Written by Heather C.

We would like to thank Heather for sharing her experiences with us! If you are interested in fostering, please contact us at 423-693-2580 or email fostercare@chamblisscenter.org.

National Foster Care Month & Foster Care Information Session

May is National Foster Care Month. With an estimated 1,000 children in the Tennessee Valley in state care at any given time, there is a critical need for quality, loving foster homes in this area. Chambliss Center for Children will host a free Foster Care Information Session on Tuesday, June 4th for those with an interest in fostering. This Foster Care Information Session is an opportunity to learn more about our PATH (Parents as Tender Healers) training, the State of Tennessee's required training for foster parents. You'll have a chance to get general information about fostering and ask questions. There's no commitment to sign up for classes that evening, however, if you want to begin the classes, you can immediately enroll in our accelerated program for the summer. Classes will begin June 6th and continue every Tuesday and Thursday through the end of June. If you need time to consider, we will have another round of PATH classes starting in September, which will meet once a week on Thursdays.

Kindly RSVP to 423-693-2580 by Friday, May 31st, so accurate preparations may be made. Child care is also available, but must be scheduled by Friday, May 31st, as well.