Foster Care Licensing

• View the webinar recording

This webinar with ABA Center on Children and the Law and Generations United examines how child welfare agencies follow the requirements in the long-standing federal Adam Walsh law. This law sensibly bars individuals who have been convicted of violent felonies from ever becoming licensed or approved as foster parents. But, most jurisdictions go well beyond federal requirements and prevent individuals from becoming foster parents for minor, non-violent crimes. 

Review these draft Kin-Specific Foster Home Approval Standards: Recommended Standards of National Organizations Version 1.0. Follow this link to go directly to the draft standards.

This crosswalk tool will assist title IV-E agencies compare their current licensing or approval standards with the Kin-Specific Foster Home Approval: Recommended Standards of National Organizations in an effort to identify areas of alignment and identify areas for change to align with these standards.

Resource showing where states, territories, and tribes are in the process of adopting kin-specific licensing standards. The map and chart are current as of 8/23/24, and will be periodically updated. Click on the states on the map who have been approved to see their kin-specific licensing policies, procedures, and resources.

On February 4, 2019, the Children’s Bureau released final National Model Foster Family Home Licensing Standards (National Model), as required by the Family First Prevention Services Act.