1. How long are children in foster care?

Foster care is designed to provide children with a home away from home in hopes of later reuniting with their biological parents once the home environment is deemed safe. The goal is to have permanency for the child(ren) within a year.

The length of time a child is in foster care varies. The completion of the case plan determines the length of time. Each biological parent must complete their case plan for child(ren) to re-enter their care. Some birth parents complete their case plans quickly, while others complete it slowly, and others, unfortunately, never complete it.

Additionally, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) is required to search for suitable relatives with whom the child can be placed until they can return to their birth parents’ home. Therefore, sometimes children are placed in a foster home initially and then moved to a relative’s home within a few days/weeks/months.

2. Can I request a particular age to foster?

Yes, our staff will work with you to determine the number of children, gender of children, and age(s) that will best work for your home. One More Child’s placement team will contact you regarding potential placements for a child/children who meet(s) these criteria.

3. Do foster parents receive any financial support?

Yes, based on the child’s age, foster parents receive a monthly stipend to help off-set the cost of caring for the foster child. Currently, the monthly stipend is as follows:

• Ages 0-5: $551.64
• Ages 6-12: $565.74
• Ages 13-21: $662.19

4. How is fostering with One More Child different from fostering through the state or agency?

One More Child is licensed through the State of Florida. Therefore, our agency and foster parents must meet all of the state’s requirements for foster parents. However, because we are a faith-based agency, we also have faith requirements for our staff and foster parents.

All of our staff and foster parents must be Born-Again Christians and be actively involved in a evangelical church (which may or may not be a Baptist church). Our foster parents are expected and required to take the foster children to church with them. Overall, One More Child provides more support to foster parents/children than is typical for other agencies. We receive many donations such as clothing and toys that foster parents can access to get supplies for the foster children.

In many areas, churches partner with us to provide additional support to our foster parents. In most areas, we require that all placements in our foster homes go through our placement team to ensure that children and foster families are closely matched. We also provide 24-hour emergency on-call coverage 365 days a year to ensure that foster parents receive the support they need day and night.

Many foster parents meet with our staff (in person or via Zoom) on a regular basis to receive training, fellowship, and pray with each other.