Foster Homes
Because Every Child Deserves a Home
We believe that children of all ages do best when they are with family. When a child is put into foster care, we work to get him or her home as quickly as possible. In the meantime, we work with almost 400 loving, supportive foster parents who provide temporary care. When reunification with families is not a viable option, we match children of all ages with loving, adoptive families.
We support foster parents with extensive training, a monthly support , and staff who are invested in their success and are there to help. Many of our foster parents are adoptive parents, or have remained connected with our children beyond their placement. We stress the importance of co-parenting — foster parent and birth parents communicating and collaborating with the best interests of the child in mind.
The Family Finding Department at The Children’s Village identifies the loneliest children in our care and works to identify family connections for them. 
Learn about the impact the program had on one young woman, Maria, in Finding Families for Lonely Kids; read an in-depth analysis of the program’s outcomes in Family Finding Project: Results from a One-Year Program Evaluation. Additionally, the Family Finding Department was selected as a 2017 Innovative Practice Award Winner by the Council on Accreditation.
How You Can Help: Become a Foster Parent
Is there room at your table for one more?
We are always looking for loving Foster Parents who are willing and able to care for a child on a temporary basis. Often, children come to us vulnerable and scared. They are in need of comfort, love, support and consistency while their families mend. Our initial focus is always family reunification. In some instances a temporary foster care placement can turn into a more permanent one if parents are not in position to plan for their children. In these scenarios, the Foster Parent has the opportunity to adopt the child they have been caring for.
As a foster parent you will receive:
- Enriching training on how to care for a foster child
- A monthly stipend
- Ongoing support, including 24-hour emergency back-up
- The feeling that you are doing something incredible for someone else in a time of need.
Foster children range in age from birth to 21 years of age. We have a large teen population, many of whom previously lived on our residential campus. We have several sibling groups, and we value the importance of placing siblings together, or at the very least in close proximity to one another.
Interested? Call Abigail in our Homefinding Department today at 212-932-9009 x 7210 or send her an email to learn more. We also offer monthly no-obligation Foster Parent Information Sessions, where you can speak informally with our staff, learn about the types of children who need temporary homes, and ask any questions you may have.
Adoption
Of the approximately 534,000 children who have been separated from their birth parents and placed in foster care, about 126,000 can never return to their original homes.
They need the nurturing and support that a permanent family can provide, and they deserve a chance to grow up feeling secure and loved. That is where special needs adoption comes into play. It’s not so much about finding a child for a family, but rather it’s about finding the most suitable family for each waiting child.
“Special needs” is a phrase used to classify children who, for various reasons, have a harder time finding families willing to adopt them. Often special needs include factors such as age, background, and physical, mental, or emotional challenges. Children may also be classified as special needs if they are part of a sibling group that is being placed for adoption together. Typically, the children placed for adoption by Children’s Village are considered special needs.
Families for Teens
Common belief has always suggested that if children, particularly children of color, are not adopted by age 7 or 8, they would never be adopted. This is especially true for youth with behavioral or emotional problems such as those in our residential treatment center. Practice for many years was to discharge these youth to group homes or independent living. However, The Children’s Village, along with other foster care agencies across the country, began to question this belief. In 2004, we began a comprehensive approach known as Families for Teens with the goal of finding at least one stable, appropriate, and willing adult for every older youth in our residential program.
Since the program’s implementation, we have seen an increased number of youth matched with new families in addition to significantly shortened lengths-of-stay in residential care. Currently, 50% of the targeted youth have been adopted or are living successfully in the community with a permanent adult resource and lengths-of-stay have been reduced by more than a year, giving hope to youth who otherwise had none. In recognition of this work, The Children’s Village was awarded an Innovative Practices Award by the Council on Accreditation.