There is a comprehensive process to becoming a foster parent. Many people have good hearts and want to help children in need – it is our duty to those children that we ensure they are cared for in a safe, stable and competent environment. Below are some of the most common questions asked by potential foster parents. Due to the high needs of the children with Annie's Havens, only couples with a special needs life experience are accepted.
A major topic for most people is how will fostering affect their family. Click on this link to learn more on this subject.
What’s the difference between fostering with CAS and Annie’s Havens?
arrow_drop_downBoth the CAS and Annie’s Havens are licensed by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services on an annual basis using the same criteria. CAS has other responsiblities such as providing direct services to families in distress where there is no immediate protection concerns.
Support for the children and the foster families by CAS is structured somewhat differently from Annie’s Havens depending on which region the Society is located.
Annie's Havens does have single parent foster homes, however, our policy on accepting new single parent homes changed in 2019. This was due to the generally high needs of the children in our care. There are severe time commitments for many of our kids. That being said, even couples need to meet a strong benchmark on mutual support and overlap of roles.
Of course! There was a highly undeserved stigma many years ago. Same sex couples are every bit as good at caring for children – it is sad that it took the child welfare system so long to realize it. In fact, we try our best to match LGBTQ2S kids with same sex couples.
We do. It can be difficult due to the lack of people willing to be foster parents. That being said, almost all our kids are matched according to the racial/ethnic background.
Foster parents are not “paid” in the tradition use of the word. There is a daily amount of money provided per child (aka “per diem”) to cover expenses related to the kids. The per diem is not a replacement for steady income. Foster kids come and go and the per diem is only paid when the kids are living at your home. Parents must be able to show they will not need to depend on the per diem to maintain their finances. That being said, there is a portion of the per diem related to “foster parent commitment” which varies depending on the agency you are with as foster parents.
Annie’s Havens parents receive $80-$85 depending on relevant education, experience and extra supports required. For example, 2 kids in a 30 day month at $85 per diem would receive $5100 – this pays for clothing, food, daily hygiene products, contribution to household costs, etc.
The Ministry of Children and Youth Services limit the number of children in a home to 4. However, physical space may further limit the number of children or other factors such as other legal children in the home.
Any major cost such as dental work, prescription medication, medical devices are paid for by Children’s Aid either directly or via reimbursement.
We can start the application process quickly. It takes time for background checks to be processed, completion of a home study and orientation training. If paperwork is returned to Annie’s Havens quickly and your schedule is flexible it can take as little as 2-months to open your home for placement consideration. Parents who have lived in different areas and have time constraints around training will take longer – no more than 3-months is our goal.
We only use your name and email to respond to your question. You will not be put on a mailing list, your information will not be giver to any 3rd parties and your data will not be used in any other ways than described.