How Foster Care Works

You can be a foster parent, and Damar will guide you through the process from beginning to end. We believe foster care creates brighter futures for children—and we can’t do it without you.

How Foster Care Works

You can be a foster parent, and Damar will guide you through the process from beginning to end. We believe foster care creates brighter futures for children—and we can’t do it without you.

7 Steps to Foster Care Parenting

Damar Foster Care Services is a fully licensed not-for-profit child placement agency, working to recruit, prepare, and support quality foster parents on behalf of children who are unable to live at home.

  1. Get in Touch. Are you ready to become a foster parent or do you just want to know more? Contact us to learn more.
  2. Start by Attending Foster Parent Orientation. Meet one-on-one with a Damar Foster Care Services representative to learn more about foster parenting. We’ll also review the Licensing Application Packet and help you register for training.
  3. Complete the Application. Be open, honest, and thorough. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have questions.
  4. Attend Foster Care Training. Indiana requires foster parents to complete 10 hours of Resource and Adoptive Parent Training (RAPT), among other training. In addition, Damar Foster Care Services requires that you participate in an additional 10 hours of pre-service training—just to make sure you’re fully prepared.
  5. Participate in the Home-Study Process. A Damar Foster Care Services representative will arrange to make two or three visits to your home to interview you and any other family members or household residents.
  6. Go Through the Approval Process. Sit tight! It might seem like nothing’s happening, but the process really is moving forward.
  7. Prepare to Have a Child Placed in Your Home. Congratulations! Once your license is approved, you’re ready to begin your journey as a  foster parent. Damar Foster Care Services will help place a foster child (or children) in your home, and we’ll always be there to support you.

Training and Licensing 

Damar Foster Care Services values foster parents as a vital resource to foster children and their birth families. In accordance with state licensing requirements, the agency offers the Resource and Adoptive Parent Training (RAPT) 10-hour pre-service training curriculum; First Aid, CPR and Universal Precautions training, and various in-service trainings.

In order to ensure you’re prepared to meet the challenges of foster parenting, Damar also requires an additional 10 hours of pre-service training before you become licensed. This extra training provides valuable information and will result in better outcomes for everyone.

Pre-service training focuses on understanding:

  • teambuilding.
  • family systems.
  • abuse and neglect.
  • the impact of abuse and neglect on child development.
  • trauma.
  • attachment, separation, and placement.
  • discipline.
  • cultural issues in placement.
  • primary families.
  • sexual abuse.
  • special needs of foster children.
  • effects of caregiving on the family.

Continuing as a foster parent requires 15 hours of in-service training each year, and licensees must also complete First Aid, CPR and Universal Precautions training on an ongoing basis.

If you want to consider adopting a child or sibling group through foster care, you must complete an additional six hours of Resource and Adoptive Parent (RAPT) Adoption training offered by Damar Foster Care Services.

Just the FAQs

Damar quickly answers the questions we are most frequently asked, including the reasons children are placed in foster care, what happens to them afterward, who can be a foster parent , and how to become one.

See FAQs

Questions?

Have more questions about becoming a foster parent? Contact us for more information.

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