FOSTER PARENT

Become a Professional

The DC Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) hires and partners with Professional Foster Parents to provide care for our children and youth who have additional needs due to behavioral or mental health. Additionally, a few of our youth who are pregnant or parenting may also require more specialized accommodations and care. Read more to help determine which program might be right for you.

As a professional foster parent, you would be paid and trained to provide intensive, culturally-informed support and services to care for children and youth who require significant parenting and therapeutic supports.

Benefits include:

  • Annual salary of $70,000

  • $20K for Health Care Reimbursement

  • Daily foster parent stipend

  • Tailored training opportunities

  • Dedicated support worker

REGISTER

Information Session

Join us for a professional parent information session to learn more about how foster care works in the District of Columbia and whether professional foster parenting is right for you.

UPCOMING SESSIONS

There are no upcoming Professional Parent Information Sessions currently scheduled. Check back again soon!

Our Professional Parents

Care for children and youth who require additional support beyond love and basic needs. Below are some of the ways we might categorize the populations our existing Professional Parents are supporting:

  1. Youth ages eight and up (focus population is 6-20) who have experienced trauma.

  2. Pregnant and/or parenting youth ages 14-20 and their children.

  3. Children and youth who need specialized parenting to address unique behavioral and mental health conditions. This may include emotional and behavioral dysregulation, substance use or sexual abuse/victimization.

Expectations of
the Professional Foster Parent

Our professional parents can expect to:

  • Make fostering their full-time commitment. Professional parents cannot work more than 20 hours per week outside of the home.

  • Receive 20 hours of specialized training annually, in addition the standard 15 hours of required foster parent training.

  • Build on their experience and expertise in helping children and teens with unique needs. Professional parents must have a minimum 5 years of specialized experience working with children and teens with moderate to severe behavioral and/or emotional challenges.

  • Commit to supporting up to two youth at a time.

  • Embrace a diversity of lived experiences and perspectives. Professional parents cannot decline placements based on gender, age, or sexuality.

  • Serve as a therapeutic parent as a part of the treatment team in cooperation with all identified supports—supporting the treatment goals of the child(ren) and remaining in consistent communication with the social work team.