What are some of the children’s special needs?
Children may come with one or more of these needs:
• Infants may have special feeding and medical problems.
• School aged children may need extra help in school work,
  feeling good about themselves and getting along with
  others.
• Children may have special emotional or behavioral needs
   or disabilities.
• Teenagers may need extra patience and commitment.
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Why would children need foster care?
Here in the Lehigh Valley, children who have been removed from their families do not have the best chance to grow up successfully without the love and care of concerned adults. Children in foster care may have experienced one or more of the following:
• Physical and sexual abuse
• Neglect and abandonment
• Substance abuse issues of a parent
• Physical or mental illness of a parent
• Death of a parent
• Emotional or behavioral problems
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How long will children stay in care?
A child’s stay in care may be as short as overnight or as long as it takes to achieve a permanent plan for the child. LVFT’s focus is on reunification with the family.
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May a single person become a foster parent?
Yes. There are no regulatory requirements governing marriage as a prerequisite to becoming a resource parent.
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What happens if a child’s family cannot take the child back?
LVFT specializes in working with families and children who will be reunited. However, in some cases, a child may be unable to return to his/her biological/legal family. At that point, other permanent placement arrangements must be made such as placement with a relative, permanent legal custodian or adoption.
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What type of support is available to the foster family?
• A staff team works with you and with each foster child
  placed in your home.
• Respite services are provided.
• Support and training
• 24 hour on-call service
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How are foster parents reimbursed?
• Daily rates for each child placed in a home
• Health insurance card covering child’s medical, dental,
  vision, and therapy expenses as well as most prescriptions
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Will I know anything about the children when they are placed in my home?
LVFT staff will tell you everything they know about the children prior to your accepting them. This includes age, gender, ethnicity and the reason the child is being placed. We want you to feel comfortable taking the children into your home.
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What are my responsibilities as a foster parent?
A foster family opens their home to children who have been abused or neglected and provides care, nurturing and supervision. LVFT encourages foster parents to participate as members of the “treatment team” for the children in their care, working with us and the birth parents to meet the children’s needs and progress towards returning them home. Foster parents take children for medical care, counseling (if needed) and to school events. They need to communicate with our staff, the children’s parents and referral agencies.
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Must foster children have their own bedroom?
No. However, children who are 5 years of age or older may not share the same bedroom with a member of the opposite sex. Additionally, the total number of children, living in any resource family, is limited to six children, which includes the resource family’s own children.
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What are the rewards of becoming a foster parent?
While a stipend is provided to foster parents to help them in caring for the foster child, the reward is knowing that you have helped give a child comfort, guidance, security, and a loving home. Feelings of accomplishment, pride, and happiness are the by-products of assisting children to improve their skills and behavior and helping people become better parents.
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