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Become A Nebraska Foster Parent

It Truly Takes a Village

In Nebraska, there are more than 3,500 children placed into out of home care.

Every successful individual knows that his or her achievement depends on a community of persons working together.

Children who are placed outside their home community in one day lose their parents, family, school friends, teachers, coaches, and sense of connection to their community.  They frequently miss school so they can have visits, or they don’t see family because they need to be in school.  This sense of loss is compounded when they cannot be placed with their brothers and sisters due to no one having enough room.

These children have experienced traumatic events and need loving and patient foster parents who will help provide a safe and stable home and can meet their physical, emotional, educational, and cultural needs.

We do this because we want to help the kids grow. We want to help them get back to their families so they can grow together.

– The Kroenke Family

What Foster Parents Do

Foster parents are needed to help take children of all ages, however, the average age of a child needing placement in Nebraska is 8 years old and almost 30% are teenagers.

  • 37.9% are 0-5
  • 34.9% are 6-12
  • 27.2% are 13-18

24.5% of children in out of home care are White, 24.5% are Hispanic, 16.1% are Black, 9.6% are two or more races, and .9% are Asian/Native Hawaiian.

As a foster family, you may be asked to:

  • Provide temporary care, love, and nurturance to children while serving as a mentor to their parent. This could include actively helping the parent improve on their parenting abilities. The foster parent assists in helping the children transition home, to a legal guardianship, or adoption by another family, while keeping the child in contact with their kin, culture and community.

  • Serve as the legal guardian for children while maintaining the children’s contact to kin, culture, and community.

  • Adopt the children while maintaining the children’s contact to kin, culture and community.

Requirements to be a Traditional Foster Parent in Nebraska

  • must have the ability to love, understand, care for and accept a child to whom they did not give birth
  • must be at least 21 years of age
  • may be married, single, legally separated, divorced, or domestic partnership
  • must be in good physical and mental health to provide for the needs of the child
  • must  have sufficient income to meet current expenses
  • must be able to provide sufficient beds and bedrooms for  additional children
  • must submit KBI and CANIS checks
  • Applicants and each household member, 18 years of age or older, submits fingerprints for a state and national criminal history records search
  • must ensure that no household member has a prior conviction of any sexual offense
  • must have a working vehicle and a telephone (this can be a cell phone)
  • must be a legal resident
  • must attend 30 hours of Model Approach to Partnership in Parenting or 21 hours of Deciding Together training