General Licensing Resources

Released by ACF Children's Bureau to update the National ModelFoster Family Home Licensing Standards. These new standards are designed to reduce unnecessary administrative burden,clarify expectations, and make it easier for qualified families to become licensed while maintaining safety. Included is a comparison to the kin-specific standards and an appendix which addresses licensing agency responsibilities and recommendations, with a focus on improving timeliness, responsiveness, and overall efficiency in the licensing process.

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.

This guidebook, developed by our partners at the National Indian Child Welfare Association, particularly Subject Matter Expert Terry L. Cross, MSW, ACSW, LCSW and Mariah Meyerholz, MSW, discusses several important considerations and suggests a process through which tribes can develop locally appropriate standards. It is based on the premise that foster care standards, including care by relatives, are most useful when developed by the tribal community in which they will be used and when a broad segment of that community participates in the development and implementation process.

The first brief from the Annie E. Casey Foundation's "Family Ties" series based on a state-by-state survey of kinship care policies. This resource explores survey data about two state policies that can help kinship caregivers obtain foster home licenses: provisional or emergency licensure, and waivers for certain foster home licensing requirements that do not affect a child’s safety. It examines existing state policies and opportunities for change in light of a recent federal rule change that gave states the option of creating specific licensing standards for kinship caregivers.

Memo by the ABA Center on Children and the Law and Generations United examining the federal and state laws that prevent kinship caregivers from becoming licensed based on previous criminal convictions. The memo analyzes state laws and policies related to criminal licensing barriers and explores opportunities to change these policies based on the recent federal rule allowing kin-specific licensing standards.