STEPS to Fostering a Child with Special Needs or Disabilities

1. Decide if foster care is the best fit for you. Understand the nature of foster care and the role and expectations of foster parents. Shop around for an agency that you feel best aligns with your family’s values and ask any and all questions to the agency representative. Take full advantage of info-sessions, orientations recruitment events so you can be best informed in your decision. Think about the type of child you can foster, but don’t let these initial inclinations limit you! As you learn more from your agency’s training and your experiences, your comfortability expanding these preferences is likely and encouraged! Specific to children with special needs or disabilities, consider the following before making final decisions
   1. Home accessibility
   2. Availability of community resources
   3. Availability to medical providers, particularly specialists
   4. Identify your support network
2. Explore agency options. There are several agencies that serve the state of West Virginia and different agency options in each region and county.
   1. Contact Mission WV, a hub for foster care recruitment and information that can discuss agency options in your area.
3. Applying to be a provider. Every agency may have slightly different eligibility criteria. General guidelines include:
   • Be at least 21 years of age
   • Financial stability
   • Good physical, mental, and emotional health
   • Relationship stability (if certifying as a two-parent household) can certify as a single parent, same sex couple, married, unmarried and living together, etc.
   • Adequate space in your home and can own or rent a home, apartment, mobile home, etc.
4. Home study certification process. After applying with an agency, the agency will be in contact to provide free trainings to best prepare you for fostering a child who has a special need or disability. In addition to the training requirement, a prospective foster family can expect a series of home safety checks by an agency social worker, or Homefinder, background checks, interviews of all household members, reference checks, medical examination report from your doctor and proofs of income, all of which make up the family home study.
5. Accepting placement of a child with special needs or a disability into your home. Once your agency contacts you with a referral you will likely have been trained to ask certain questions and be prepared to receive certain types of information regarding the child, their removal reasons, and their needs coming into foster care. However, some information you may require is unique to fostering children with special needs and disabilities such as:
   • What is the child’s medical diagnosis? Are there suspected undiagnosed conditions that need addressed? What level of medical care does the child require?
   • Does the child have a diagnosed or suspected intellectual impairment?
   • Get a list of medications. Will the child be coming into care with the medications or will you be visiting the pharmacy upon placement?
   • Who is on the child’s treatment team or who is the child’s primary medical provider? Does the child see any specialists for their condition? Are there any upcoming appointments? How frequently are follow-up appointments?
   • Is the child enrolled in any waiver programs, early intervention programs, SSI, or other programs due to their disability?
   • Is the child verbal and/or mobile as developmentally appropriate? If not, do they have a communication device and/or other equipment they require such as lifts, pull bars, wheelchairs, etc. and what will they have coming into care? Learn about where to borrow these items for free.
   • Does the child have hearing or vision impairments? Do they require assistive technology devices if so and will they be coming into care with them?
   • Is the child potty trained as developmentally appropriate and if not, what size incontinence products do they require? Learn about assistance with incontinence products.
   • - What does feeding look like for the child? Are they eating foods as developmentally appropriate? Is there a concern or history of malnourishment? Does the child require a feeding tube and if so do they require special foods? Where can you receive the training to use the feeding tube?

   Remember that all children go through a transition and adjustment period when coming into foster care and upon being separated from their families. This traumatizing event leads to emotional, behavioral, and developmental issues, regardless of the child’s underlying medical diagnosis or disability.

6. Advocating for your foster child. Honoring and defending your foster child’s rights, needs, and interests looks differently when said child has a special need or disability. Children with disabilities, especially when in foster care, are put at risk of harm, exploitation, and denied their rights at startling rates compared to both their typically functioning peers who are also in foster care and children with disabilities who are not in foster care. Continue learning about the prevalence of abuse and neglect among children with disabilities here. (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2018)
   • For a child with a disability, accessing services and programs, navigating medical systems, and receiving education accommodations can be an on-going check and balance for caregivers. Foster care can hinder the progress made by a caregiver, as it is a temporary structure where children may be moved from one placement to the next and often unexpectedly and without much notice.
   • As a foster parent, be sure to understand the issue that the child is facing and understand the child’s needs and the supports that can help so you can speak up for them, whether that be during an IEP meeting, MDT meeting, in court, or during a visit with their social worker or biological parent. As a foster parent, it is your responsibility to ensure that your speaking up for them is out of their best interest, honors the child’s rights, and is not jaded by your personal opinions, feelings of love for them or out of judgement or resentment for the biological family, foster care system, etc.
   • Review and understand the rights you both have as foster parent and child.
     • Foster Parent Bill of Rights
     • Foster Child Bill of Rights
     You can find the Foster Parent Bill of Rights here and the Foster Child Bill of Rights here. Also, consult your agency worker to review your foster parent roles and expectations agreement so that you are fully informed about what level of advocacy you are responsible for and what roles the agency, DHHR, GAL, CASA worker and MDT have in advocating for your child.
   • Empower your child to speak up for themselves. Role play doctor appointments, discussions with teachers, IEP meetings, or anywhere that they may need to make their preferences or needs known so that they have the language and confidence to do so when you aren’t there. Make sure they are aware of their rights both through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA), as a person who requires an IEP in school, and as a child in foster care by reviewing the Bill of Rights with them. Some children with disability might have communication impairments and need support to express themselves.
   • Know when to get additional support.
     • Go to your agency and let them know what barriers you’re facing in ensuring your child’s needs are met. Agency workers have attended IEP meetings, medical appointments, specialty appointments, have helped children write letters to the GAL or directly to the judge, and more in an effort to advocate.
     • Go to the Foster Care Ombudsman, who works as a non-biased third party to investigate impedance of rights for children in foster care and involved parties. Learn more about the role of the Ombudsman or how to contact the office or file a report.
     • Seek out Services.
7. Preserving the family through reunification. Saying goodbye to your child as they transition back into their biological family’s home is an emotional time for both you and the child. You have served your purpose and accomplished your goal as a foster parent if you have supported the family reunification. Congratulate yourself but also lean into your support network and prioritize self-care because this is still a loss that you will need to mourn and an adjustment you and your family will make. As difficult as this time feels for you, remember to always first consider the perspective of the child and the feelings they are processing during this time. Be a support by talking with them along the way about the court outcomes, the discussed timelines, and giving them a space to express their excitement, fears and to ask questions. Your positive relationship with their biological parent will make this step of the process much easier on all parties.
8. When reunification is not possible. Foster care is designed to be a temporary service to families and children. When the time of fostering ends, whether through reunification or something else, the transition will be a loss for all parties. Gaining one family permanently often means losing another. Adoptive and foster families should seek guidance and education from their agency workers about how to best support a child during this time and about how to help a child manage their losses and grief. The alternative to reunification, when a child will require permanency with a foster or adoptive family, includes options such as adoption or legal guardianship.