Kinship Center offers foster care services in the following locations. Click on the location link to see what services are offered in your area.

Please note: Kinship Center provides a continuum of services that create and sustain permanent families for children who need them. Please refer to the left navigation bar to explore additional programs and services.

Monterey County
Orange County
Los Angeles County
Inland Empire (San Bernardino and Riverside Counties)
North San Diego County
San Benito County

Kinship Center’s foster care program includes short or long term parenting for children with a variety of special circumstances. We welcome new adults who are interested in learning more about becoming a foster parent. Some parents enter the process with the intention of adopting their foster children, while others prefer to remain a transitional placement. Information meetings are held monthly at Kinship Center locations throughout California. Click here for a statewide schedule of meetings.

• Therapeutic Foster Care: Therapeutic foster parents are specially trained and continually supported to provide foster family care for children of any age who cannot safely remain with their birth families and who need special attention. Parents who intend to adopt their foster child(ren) work with a Kinship Center social worker to prepare for the adoption. Other parents work with a Kinship Center social worker to develop and carry out a treatment plan for long-term foster care placement, for children being prepared for adoption elsewhere, for reunification with birth parents, or for transition (emancipation) into adulthood.
• Short-term Foster Care: Kinship Center certifies a small number of foster parents to provide short-term care to infants and toddlers whose birth parents may be considering adoptive placement.
• Foster Care/Adoption for Medically Fragile or Developmentally Disabled Children (STAR Program): Kinship Center is approved to care for children with special medical or developmental needs. Foster parents in this program typically have experience or some medical training in this field. Qualified medical personnel provide additional training, and foster parents work closely with the Kinship Center social worker and the Individualized Health Care Plan Team.

The Process

Prospective foster parents begin the process by completing and submitting a Foster Care Interest Form. A family study, which includes documentation, references, interviews, and parent education, typically takes three to six months before a child or sibling group is placed in the home. There is no specific income requirement, and it is not necessary to own your own home. Kinship Center is particularly noted for its in-depth parent education and support.

Financial Information

Kinship Center does not charge fees to foster parents, other than modest fees for Fingerprint and Child Abuse Index Clearances required for foster home certification. Foster parents receive non-taxable ongoing funds to ensure their ability to care for each child, and medical and dental expenses for foster children are largely covered by MediCal.

Foster children may qualify as dependents for income tax purposes. If a foster child qualifies as a dependent, then the foster family may be eligible to claim a dependency exemption, a child tax credit, and a credit for childcare incurred for the foster child because the parents are working. In addition, certain foster families may qualify for the earned income tax credit.

The above information is of a general nature and should not be acted upon except in consultation with your tax advisor. Please refer to the IRS dependency guidelines and consult with your tax advisor to see if your foster child qualifies as a dependent and if your family is entitled to any of the other tax benefits listed above.