Become a Foster Parent Today!
It takes a special person to open their heart and home to a child or teen in need. It takes courage, hard work, and love. It takes someone like you! Click here to get started!
Since 1952, through its dedicated Foster Parent network, Little Flower provides safety and care for children who are unable to remain at home with their families. Little Flower strives to match children with foster parents who can provide love, stability, nurturing, and the sense of family permanency that all children need.
It takes a special person or persons to sacrifice time, money, and most importantly energy and love that goes into nurturing a child – all the while knowing that it may be temporary. Like any loving parent, foster parents tend to the physical, medical, emotional, social, and educational needs of children by assuring home life environments are clean, safe, orderly, and embracing. Foster parents help children to be successful in life by teaching them life skills in the home and cooperating with and facilitating child well-being plans that connect children with the services and help they need.
Little Flower supports, celebrates, and welcomes the LGBTQ community to join our efforts to ensure the safety and well-being of the children in our care as prospective candidates for fostering/adoption. All families/parents are provided support through training before, during, and after each child/youth is placed. We look forward to celebrating with our LGBTQ candidates as they achieve and create a more equitable world with the importance of having a diversified family.
Click here to begin your application and take the first steps to become a foster parent with Little Flower!
Contact our Home Finding Department at 631-644-1421 or at [email protected] for more information.
Click here to view upcoming orientations.
You can apply to be a foster parent if you:
- Enjoy playing with, teaching, and mentoring children/teens.
- Have a sincere interest in caring for children and working with their birth families.
- Are at least 21 years old, married or unmarried, with or without children, and in good health.
- Are able to meet your own financial obligations through employment, pension, public assistance and/or social security, (not unemployment benefits).
- Are willing and able to accompany youth to/from, and participate directly in required appointments and meetings.
- Are able to provide each child with his or her own bed and have a home that meets all NYS requirements.
- Complete NYS’s mandated foster parent training program.
- Are willing to comply with all requirements needed to be certified by NYC as a foster parent (including Statewide Central Register (SCR) and federal fingerprinting.)
Supports to foster parents include:
- A monthly stipend based on the child’s age and special needs.
- Free foster parenting and special needs training.
- A monthly clothing allowance for each child in care.
- Professional case planners to work closely with you and birth families to meet all child and family needs.
- Assistance from our Family Support Unit to stabilize placements and provide ongoing support, encouragement, and intervention when necessary.
- Additional home-based services that address behavioral and emotional needs.
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