Foster Care Licensing

• View the webinar recording

This webinar with ABA Center on Children and the Law and Generations United examines how child welfare agencies follow the requirements in the long-standing federal Adam Walsh law. This law sensibly bars individuals who have been convicted of violent felonies from ever becoming licensed or approved as foster parents. But, most jurisdictions go well beyond federal requirements and prevent individuals from becoming foster parents for minor, non-violent crimes. 

On February 4, 2019, the Children’s Bureau released final National Model Foster Family Home Licensing Standards (National Model), as required by the Family First Prevention Services Act.

Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network page with links to webinar recording, presentation slides, and other resources about the progress that states and tribes have made in implementing kin-specific licensing standards. Learn from the experiences of three title IV-E agencies that are piloting the standards, and explore what to consider as you implement them in your state or tribe.

The first brief from the Annie E. Casey Foundation's "Family Ties" series based on a state-by-state survey of kinship care policies. This resource explores survey data about two state policies that can help kinship caregivers obtain foster home licenses: provisional or emergency licensure, and waivers for certain foster home licensing requirements that do not affect a child’s safety. It examines existing state policies and opportunities for change in light of a recent federal rule change that gave states the option of creating specific licensing standards for kinship caregivers.

Memo by the ABA Center on Children and the Law and Generations United examining the federal and state laws that prevent kinship caregivers from becoming licensed based on previous criminal convictions. The memo analyzes state laws and policies related to criminal licensing barriers and explores opportunities to change these policies based on the recent federal rule allowing kin-specific licensing standards.