Do I Qualify
Eligibility Requirements for Foster Parents
Youth Villages foster parents must live in Tennessee and meet these simple eligibility requirements:
- Be legally employed or have verifiable monthly income above the poverty line
- Be single or legally married for at least one year or co-habitating for at least 3 years
- Have homeowner’s or renter’s insurance
- Have a current driver license, reliable transportation, and car insurance
- Be at least 25 years of age
- Pass a criminal background check
- Be tolerant of differences in racial, ethnic, religious and educational backgrounds
Once you are deemed eligible, you will have to complete a training course and an in-home interview before you are certified to receive a foster child.
Eligibility Requirements for Your Home
Youth Villages foster children must be placed in safe and comfortable environments where they can best complete their healing. Homes must be:
- Generally clean and in good repair.
- Adequately furnished.
- Have a medication lock box, and the box must be under a second lock. (All medications for the child and family must be kept in the lock box.)
- Have an A-B-C rated fire extinguisher (at least 2 pounds)
- Have a hot water heater equipped with a safety release valve
- Not contain a licensed day home or daycare center
- Not be home to more than four minor children or more than two children under the age of 2
- Equipped with a land–line telephone or a mobile phone that stays in the home at all times
Eligibility Requirements for the Child’s Room
Foster children need adequate space they can call their own. That means either their own room or a room shared with child of the same gender and similar age.
- The child must have his or her own bed.
- The child should have adequate space to keep his or her belongings (closet, drawers, etc.)
- The child’s room must have a smoke detector in the room or in an adjacent hallway.
- The child’s bedroom may not be above the third floor.
- The child’s bedroom must have two exits: a door to the hallway and a window that opens. The window must not be barred or be painted or nailed shut.
The In-Home Interview
The job of a foster parent is to provide a safe home that meets children’s needs until they can go to a permanent home. They have round-the-clock close contact with very vulnerable children, so Youth Villages completes a home study to ensure the health and safety of children. Some things we’ll ask include:
- Autobiographical Questions – Youth Villages’ staff ask questions to learn about the foster parents’ personalities, what growing up was like for them, how they were parented, and how they make decisions. This will include information about marriages and divorces and descriptions of children
- Income Questions – Foster parents must have enough income to meet the family’s needs. Foster care reimbursements from Youth Villages are to support the child, not to provide income for the foster family.
- Health Questions – Foster parents must be sufficiently healthy to meet the needs of the child being placed in the home.
- Family Impact Questions – How will a foster child will affect a family.
- Safety Questions – Does your house and the child’s room meet requirements?
