You want to help a foster family. We'll help you figure out how.
Pick how much time you have. Take one step. We'll walk with you — right where you live.
Not sure where to start? Try the easiest one →
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1One Pack.A concrete way to help.
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2One local door.We connect you to the agency near you.
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3One coach.We check in at 30, 60, 90 days.
Pick a Pack
Fifteen concrete ways to start helping foster families near you. Start where it fits.
Send us a question.
Stuck on a step? Need a coach? Have an idea we should add? Write to us — every message lands directly with Foster Hope's team. We respond within 48 hours.
Tell us about you.
A few quick questions. We'll combine your answers with the real foster-care landscape in your county, and recommend the Pack that fits you best — plus the exact first step to take today.
Build your own Pack
Don't see your idea? Tell us what you want to do, and we'll generate a complete step-by-step Pack just for you — tailored to the time, skills, and community you bring.
Who's already helping foster families in your county?
Enter where you live and we'll surface the local foster family agencies, CASA program, school-district liaisons, and foster parent groups that welcome individual helpers — with what to say when you contact each one.
Foster Friend Basics
Five minutes of essentials that protect the kids and families you're about to help. Read before your first step.
Universal Do's
- Show up when you said you would. Foster kids have had too many adults disappear. Consistency is care.
- Use first names only when talking about any child with people outside the foster parents' circle.
- Ask the foster parents before bringing gifts. Some children react badly to surprises.
- Let the foster parents lead. They know the child, the case, and the rules. Your job is to support them, not redirect them.
- Keep your commitments short and finishable. A 6-month yes you complete beats a 2-year yes you abandon.
Universal Don'ts
- Don't ask about a child's case, past, biological parents, or court hearings. Even casual questions can cause harm.
- Don't post photos of foster children on social media. Ever. This is a legal issue, not a preference.
- Don't promise anything you can't follow through on. This includes "I'll always be here."
- Don't discipline, instruct, or correct the child's behavior in ways the foster parents haven't approved.
- Don't offer unsolicited advice about foster care to the family. They know more than you do about their situation.
A short glossary
FFA
Foster Family Agency. A private, licensed organization that recruits, trains, and supports foster parents in partnership with the county. Your local door for most Packs.
CASA
Court Appointed Special Advocate. A volunteer assigned to one child in foster care — not a social worker, not a lawyer, but the one consistent adult in that child's case.
Kinship care
When a child in foster care is placed with a relative or family friend. Kinship families carry the same weight with fewer resources than licensed foster parents.
Respite
Approved short-term childcare for a foster family. Requires a background check through the family's FFA. The single most-requested help.
Reunification
The primary goal of foster care: returning children safely to their biological parents when possible. Most children in foster care will be reunified.
McKinney-Vento liaison
Every school district has one — the person who coordinates services for students in foster care or housing instability. Your door for school-based help.
TBRI
Trust-Based Relational Intervention. The leading trauma-informed care framework for kids from hard places. Deeper training on this is coming to the site.
Aging out
Turning 18 (or 21 in extended foster care) while still in the system. 1 in 4 aging-out youth experience homelessness within 2 years. Mentors change this.
Background checks, explained
A few Packs — Respite Support (#9), Teen Mentor (#10), and Volunteer Driver (#15) — require a background check. Here's what that actually looks like, from start to finish.
Who runs the check
- A local Foster Family Agency (FFA) — the most common door. Covers Respite and Driver Packs.
- CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) — for Teen Mentor. Most thorough of the bunch because you'll represent a child in court.
- County social services — for county-run volunteer programs (Kinship support, direct-needs response).
- School district HR — for school-based tutoring and McKinney-Vento volunteering.
What gets checked
- Live Scan fingerprinting (FBI + state DOJ)
- Child Abuse Central Index (CACI) in California, or the state equivalent elsewhere
- Sex offender registry
- DMV record (for drivers only)
- TB test (medical clearance; often provided free at the agency)
- 3–5 personal references
What it costs you
Usually $0. Agencies cover Live Scan ($25–$45) for approved applicants because they want to keep volunteers. Occasionally you'll pay out of pocket at a school district. TB tests at a county clinic are usually free.
Timeline
- Live Scan results: 3–14 days
- Training hours: 4–40 hours depending on the role (CASA is the longest)
- Home visit (for respite providers only): 60–90 minutes, scheduled around you
- Full approval: 4–12 weeks depending on the role
Your part
- Fill out the agency's application (online or in-person)
- Visit a Live Scan location when they tell you to — many UPS stores, police stations, and dedicated Live Scan centers do it. 10 minutes, electronic, done.
- Complete their training (videos, workshops, or in-person)
- Schedule your home visit (respite only)
- Wait for the green light, then start serving
The honest picture
If you've never had trouble with the law, this is a formality. If you have something on your record, ask the agency's volunteer coordinator about it upfront — most agencies can work with a range of histories depending on what it is and how long ago. Lying on the application is the only thing that automatically disqualifies everyone.
Share this with your church family.
Everything you need to announce Foster Hope Friends from the stage, in the bulletin, or on social — with a quiet pipeline back to you when your people say yes.
Someone in your pews is wondering how to help.
People in your church want to help foster families but don't know where to start. Foster Friends makes the first yes easy.
Share it from the stage, in the bulletin, or online.
Three sentences. One URL.
If God is nudging you to help a foster family, Foster Hope has made it easier than ever to start. Pick a Pack, take one step, and they'll walk with you. fosterhopefriends.com
Pick a channel. Mention it once.
- From the stage. "If you've ever wondered how to help a foster family — go to fosterhopefriends.com."
- In the bulletin. One line with the URL is enough.
- In your weekly email. Drop the URL with a sentence of invitation.
- In small groups. Ask group leaders to mention it when prayer turns to serving.
- In a sermon application. Any time you teach on James 1:27, Psalm 68:5-6, or loving the vulnerable.
- On your church website. Add the URL to your "Serve" or "Mission" page.
Seasons when foster care is on people's minds.
- Foster Care Awareness Month — May. Dedicate a Sunday to invite people to take one step.
- Mother's Day and Father's Day. Speak to the brokenhearted — the bio parents, the foster parents, the kids.
- Back-to-school. Lean into the school-supply + tutoring Pack.
- Thanksgiving and Christmas. Holiday Inclusion and Birthday Box Packs fit here.
- Orphan Sunday — first Sunday of November. The national moment to invite your congregation into this work.
- After a crisis in the news. When foster care is in the headlines, people are already asking how to help.
What to tell people who ask about background checks.
The most common pastoral question: "Is it safe for my people to volunteer?" Yes — and the process is clear. Most Packs require no vetting at all. The few that do (Respite, Teen Mentor, Driver) go through a local Foster Family Agency or CASA, which runs a full Live Scan + training. Agencies cover the cost; the volunteer just shows up.
Point anyone with questions to the full explainer: Foster Friend Basics → Background checks, explained.
Three of your people is a ministry.
When three people from your church sign up as Foster Friends, you have the seed of a foster-care ministry. That's when it's worth talking with the Foster Toolkit — a separate site built for the pastor or ministry lead who's ready to build a church-wide initiative.