Basic Requirements for Foster Parents and Adoptive Parent

Any adult who cares about children is encouraged to become a licensed foster parent.  Some general requirements are:

• Be a resident of Alamance County
• You must be at least 21 years of age. 
• You must have a high school diploma or its equivalent (GED)
• You can be single, married, divorced or widowed. 
• You must have enough living and sleeping space for all family members and foster children. 
• You own your home or rent
• You can have children already in the household or no children in the existing household.
• You must have stable family support relationships.
• You must be able to provide adequate supervision to the foster child. 
• You must have a stable income to meet your family's basic needs. 
• You must have the ability to provide good physical, emotional, and spiritual care to the foster or adoptive children.
• All members of the household must be in good physical, emotional, and mental health as documented by completion of a routine physical exam. 
• Each household must have a fire inspection. 
• You must have a telephone.
• All foster parents are required to complete 30 hours of pre-service foster parent training, and 10 hours of in-service training annually. 
• When you have completed an agency application, one of our social workers will do a home study. 
• A background check will be completed on each household member over age 18.