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Foster Care FAQ

What are the benefits to fostering older youth?

Fostering an older youth requires a shorter commitment than with a younger child. Older youth are typically self-sufficient, with their own interests and activities. They may not be looking for a mom or dad, but rather a life coach or a mentor. Families with older youth tend to stay youthful themselves and grow in new ways. They may also find the personality of teens to be entertaining and challenging in a good way.

What’s it like to foster younger youth?

Younger children can grow and adjust to fit into your family and may be available for adoption. If you’re not ready to make that decision up front, we can support you in making this choice. On the other hand, you may have a child placed with you who may return to his or her family, and it can be hard to let the child explore this option.

Do youth stay in contact with their birth families?

The Dan Fox Family Care Program staff seek to maintain and, in some cases, build a positive relationship with birth families. This often brings children and youth a sense of culture, history, and self. Our top priority is to ensure that this contact is safe, and we offer support and supervision when necessary.

What support does Dan Fox provide to foster families?

We offer a wide variety of services and support to foster families and children, including:

  • Making a thoughtful, slow placement to best match a family with an appropriate child
  • Advocating for foster parent needs
  • Providing social work support and therapeutic interventions
  • Offering case management services and ongoing parent training and support groups
  • Affording the family with 24-hour staff availability
  • Providing financial reimbursement
  • Insuring the child has health and mental health insurance coverage over and above the stipends given to foster parents
  • Training in child development and other related topics
  • Providing respite care in which another family takes the child temporarily to give you a break
  • Offering life skill services for youth and assisting up to age 18 or graduation from high school, whichever is later.

Are there other ways to help children in need?

Children in foster care need caring adults in their lives on a consistent basis. If you’d like to help a child, but aren’t quite ready to commit to fostering, you can help in other ways. One way is to provide respite, or short-term care, to children for a specified time while foster parents are unavailable or taking a break. It can be as short as a few hours or as long as a few weeks. You might also consider mentoring, tutoring, providing transportation, or job training.

For more information about children waiting for homes contact:

Bianey Lara-Ambriz, Family Developer & Outreach Coordinator, Dan Fox Family Care Program
(406) 541-1663 |  bambriz@youthhomesmt.org