Treatment Foster Parent Eligibility Requirements

The following are the Center for Family Services basic approval requirements:

1. Applicants must be 25 years of age or older and in good physical health.
2. Maryland Residency is required.
3. Applicants may be single or married. All prospective parents (single parents in particular) must have a
   solid support network.
4. Applicants must have a car, car insurance policy, and no more than three (3) points on a valid driver’s
   license.
5. Applicants must have a HS diploma or General Education Diploma including life experience.
6. Applicants name must appear on the mortgage or lease, and applicants must have renter’s or
   homeowner’s insurance.
7. Applicants and any adults residing in the home (18 years or older) must be fingerprinted for a criminal
   background check.
8. Applicants must be able to meet their financial obligations as indicated by:
   a. Stable, permanent employment (verification is required);
   b. Housing may not be subsidized;
   c. Cannot be a recipient of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) or other forms of
   public assistance (i.e. food stamps)
9. Applicants are required to submit an initial medical examination including Tuberculosis (TB)
   Clearance (and re-examination every year) for every member of the household.
10. Applicants must complete 30 hours of approved Pre-Service education training. Any adults
    living in the home that will have childcare responsibility for the foster child will need to
    attend the Pre-Service training and fulfill legal requirements (i.e. criminal background
    checks, MVA checks, etc.).
11. Applicants must provide one relative and three non-relative references indicating their parenting ability.
    Individuals providing information about applicants must have knowledge of applicant’s character and
    parenting ability. One of the four references must be a face-to-face interview conducted by the home
    study worker.
12. Applicant’s home will be inspected by personnel from the local health department for safety and
    sanitation. Baltimore City, Carroll, Harford, Howard, Cecil, & Anne Arundel Counties also require
    fire safety inspections; for Baltimore County a fire safety survey will be required. If there are major
    concerns, it is the applicant’s responsibility of the applicant to address these concerns prior to
    being certified.
13. Applicants must have a working landline telephone.
14. Applicants must refrain from physical and/or corporal discipline; must have a knowledge of,
    interest in, and regard for the principles of good childcare. Applicants must have the capacity
    to understand and tolerate a wide range of behaviors the foster child may exhibit.
15. The number of children in the home must not exceed four (4), including the applicant’s own
    children; no more than two children under the age of two; no more than two treatment
    foster children. The home should provide adequate space for the foster child without disrupting
    the usual sleeping and living arrangements of the family. The child’s sleeping area should provide
    for privacy, room for studying, storage of clothes, toys, and personal belongings.
16. Each child must have his/her own bed, which cannot be a cot, sofa, sleeper sofa, double
    tiered bed, bunk bed, or any type of portable bed. A child may share a room with another
    child of similar age and sex.
17. Applicants must be willing to safeguard the child’s religious background by providing an
    opportunity for worship and activities in a local church of the child’s religious affiliation.
18. Applicants must be willing to keep the foster child connected to their birth families; provide
    transportation for visits.
19. Applicants must be able to provide a safe, stable, therapeutic environment for the foster child.
20. Applicants must have the capacity to work with the new and different experiences necessary
    in caring for a child other than their own; must be mature and possess personality
    characteristics that will promote an emotional climate in which a foster child can heal, grow and
    have the opportunity for healthy child development.
21. Homes with aggressive pets will not be certified (i.e. Pit Bulls, Dobermans, Rottweillers,
    poisonous snakes, etc.) Center for Family Services reserves the right to assess pet aggressiveness.
22. Applicants may not operate a day care or provide in home care for the elderly from their home.
23. Applicants must have a HS Diploma or General Education Diploma including life experience.