Most children in foster care are placed with relatives or foster families.  While a child is in foster care, he or she attends school and receives medical care and other services as necessary.  The child's family also receives services to support their efforts to reduce the risk of future maltreatment and to help them, in most cases, be reunified with their child.  Parents may visit their children on a predetermined basis.  Visits are also arranged between siblings, if they cannot be placed together.

How long does a child stay in foster care?
Every child in foster care should have a 'permanency plan' that describes where the child will live after he or she leaves foster care.  Except in unusual and extreme circumstances, every child's plan is first focused on reunification with parents.  If efforts toward reunification are not successful, the plan may be changed to another permanent arrangement, such as adoption or kinship care (custody to a relative).  Long-term foster care (until emancipation) is typically only for older children who have become strongly attached to the family and/or for whom a suitable adoptive home cannot be found.

Federal law requires the court to hold a permanency hearing, which determines the permanent plan for the child, within 12 months after the child enters foster care and every 12 months thereafter.  Many courts review each case more frequently to ensure that the agency is actively engaged in permanency planning for the child.

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