Foster Care & Adoption Services - Kalamazoo - Michigan

Childhood is brief.
There are countless opportunities for you to change a lifetime
for a child in foster care by sharing your heart,
opening your home and giving hope to children and teens.

Get Started Now!

Please contact Shari Boone, Foster Care Recruitment Specialist

Kalamazoo Office: (269) 344-0202
Battle Creek Office: (269) 965-3247
Shari Boone Direct Line: (269) 488-7917

Contact Foster Care & Adoption by Email

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Foster Parent Orientation Schedule 2013
If you would like to attend one of the orientation please call (269) 501-0834.

Kalamazoo Orientation Schedule
Thursday, May 2, 2013	5:30-8:30 pm
Thursday, June 6, 2013	5:30-8:30 pm
Thursday, July 11, 2013	5:30-8:30 pm
Thursday, August 1, 2013	5:30-8:30 pm
Thursday, September 5, 2013	5:30-8:30 pm
Thursday, October 3, 2013	5:30-8:30 pm
Thursday, November 7, 2013	5:30-8:30 pm
Thursday, December 5, 2013	5:30-8:30 pm

Battle Creek Orientation Schedule
Wednesday, May 15, 2013	5:00-8:00 pm
Wednesday, June 19, 2013	5:00-8:00 pm
Wednesday, July 17, 2013	5:00-8:00 pm
Wednesday, August 21, 2013	5:00-8:00 pm
Wednesday, September 18, 2013	5:00-8:00 pm
Wednesday, October 16, 2013	5:00-8:00 pm
Wednesday, November 20, 2013	5:00-8:00 pm
Wednesday, December 18, 2013	5:00-8:00 pm

Who makes a good foster parent?
People of all walks of life make good foster parents. Some are married or partnered; some are single, divorced or widowed; some own homes and some rent; some have children already in their home and some do not. All these different people do seem to have several common characteristics.

- 18 years of age or older
- Love children
- Have stable income
- Be able to commit to challenges
- A strong desire to make a difference in children’s lives.

Thank you for your interest in learning more about Foster Care & Adoption with Family & Children Services.
For an overview of how you can make a difference, please view the following video segments.

Video Segments

Overview and Orientation - Segment 1

Attachment and Separation - Segment 2

Impact of Fostering - Segment 3

The Licensing Process - Segment 4

Statement of Needs

Foster Care Statement of Needs

Adoption Statement of Needs

Become a Foster or Adoptive Parent

One Child at a Time - One Family at a Time - Making Connections

Foster Care
Foster care is an opportunity to provide children who have experienced the trauma of abuse or neglect safe haven. We provide refuge to children ranging from birth to 17, from all racial and ethnic backgrounds. Foster parents are essential to providing stable, temporary homes that protect and nurture these children in the hope that their birth parents will become able.

Adoption
Unlike foster care, adoption is an opportunity for children to have a “forever family” when they are unable to live safely with their birth parents. We are currently accepting pre-adoptive families for school-aged children and older.

Services and support provided to foster and adoptive families include:
Staff support, including a 24 hour emergency on-call
Financial Reimbursement
Foster and Adoptive Parent Support Group
Ongoing training and development
HANDLE WITH CARE - a specialized fund to meet children’s critical needs that cannot be met by any other funding source.

Download Printable Brochure

Statement of Needs

Foster Care Statement of Needs

Adoption Statement of Needs

Regional Service Areas

Foster Parent Documents

Michigan Department of Human Services - Forms

Please visit www.michigan.gov for a an up-to-date directory of Department of Human Services' Forms.

Quarterly Newsletters

Fostering Footnotes newsletter

MARE distributes youth newsletters every quarter and they are available here for you to view online or print and read in your spare time.

MARE Newsletter for Youth

Resources for Parents and Individuals Who Work With Parents

Adolescent Violence Prevention Counseling people.bu.edu/pstring

American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry www.aacap.org

American Council for Drug Education www.acde.org

American Library Association’s Sites for Parents, Caregivers Teachers, & Others Who Care About Kids www.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites/parent.html

American Medical Association www.ama-assn.org

Annie E. Casey Foundation www.aecf.org

Bridges4Kids (special needs) www.bridges4kids.org

Building Blocks for a Healthy Future bblocks.samhsa.gov/

Centers for Application of Prevention Technologies www.captus.org/home.cfm

CHADD Children and Adults with Attention – Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder www.chadd.org

Children’s Defense Fund www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageServer

College Parents of America www.collegeparents.org

Connect for Kids www.connectforkids.org

FACE - Truth and Clarity on Alcohol www.faceproject.org

FACT - Families and Communities Together www.fact.msu.edu

Family Education Network www.familyeducation.com

Family Information Center www.eric.ed.gov/

Family Village (For families whose members have disabilities) www.familyvillage.wisc.edu

Federal Resources for Educational Excellence www.ed.gov/free

Foundation Center (grant info) foundationcenter.org

Future of Children futureofchildren.org

Grandparents raising grand children & kinship care
www.aarp.org and www.miseniors.net

The Grantsmanship Center www.tgci.com

Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention for Parents www.edc.org/hec/parents

Parents Action for Children (formerly I Am Your Child) store.parentsactionstore.org/prostores/servlet/StoreFront

Join Together www.jointogether.org

Kids Health kidshealth.org

Kids Campaigns www.connectforkids.org

Kids Count www.kidscount.org

Kinship Care Resource Center www.kinshipcare.net

Library of Congress www.loc.gov

Mapping Your Future mappingyourfuture.org

*Michigan Adoption Resource Exchange www.mare.org

Michigan Association for the Education of Young Children www.miaeyc.com

Michigan 4C Association (child care) www.mi4c.org

Michigan Childcare Health Resources www.mi4c.org

Michigan Department of Community Health www.michigan.gov/mdch

Michigan Department of Education www.michigan.gov/mde

Michigan Fatherhood Coalition www.michiganfatherhood.org

Michigan Head Start Association www.mhsa.ws

Michigan League for Human Services www.milhs.org

Michigan PTSA www.michiganpta.org

Michigan State University Extension www.msue.msu.edu/portal

Michigan Steps Up www.michiganstepsup.org

Michigan’s Children www.michiganschildren.org

Minnesota Higher Education Center Against Violence & Abuse www.umn.edu/mincava

Mi Pediatra (Spanish-language site with child-health info) www.mipediatra.org

Michigan Association for the Education of the Young Child
(Month of the Young Child) www.miaeyc.org/moyc/MOYC08/MOYC_Page.html

*National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections http://www.nrcpfc.org/

National Association for the Education of Young Children www.naeyc.org

National Center for Family Literacy www.famlit.org

National Center for Fathering www.fathers.com

National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information ncadi.samhsa.gov/

National Extension Parent Education Model www.k-state.edu/wwparent/nepem

National Fathers Network www.fathersnetwork.org

National Health Information Center www.health.gov/nhic

National Information Center for Children and Youth With Disabilities www.nichcy.org/Pages/Home.aspx

National Institute on Media and the Family www.mediafamily.org

National Institutes of Health www.nih.gov

National Network for Childcare www.nncc.org

National Network for Collaboration crs.uvm.edu/nnco