Caregiver FAQs

Basic foster care rates and Payments are set by the State and are intended solely for reimbursement of the direct costs you incur in caring for the child. If you need assistance to verify the accuracy of the eligibility findings, read this helpful guide Relative Caregiver’s Guide to Benefits – Steps to understanding, applying for and receiving the appropriate benefits for foster children – The Alliance for Children’ Rights. The county placing agency cannot use State and federal funds for children who are placed in homes that have not yet been licensed, approved or certified.

• What rights do I have if the Court and / or County decide to terminate the placement, remove the child from my home, and I am not in agreement?
• This website is intended to provide information about services and resources for children and families in Illinois.
• Your foster care license can be suspended or revoked; however, a foster care license cannot be “on hold”.
• If no relative or close friend is available or appropriate, your child may be placed in foster care.

Resources

The county placing agency has a responsibility to make a diligent effort to place children with special needs into those foster family homes that have a higher level of skill, training, and certification, often called Intensive Treatment Foster Care (ITFC) or group home care. The licensing, approval or certification agency will provide you with any needed Training to ensure the success of the foster child’s placement in your home. In the cases where the child is already known to the county placing agency, the social worker will be able to provide you with the child’s Health Passport a fairly complete picture of the child’s health history, behavioral issues and emotional needs. Service Plan – This is an agreement between CPS and the parents of children in substitute care (foster care, kinship care, etc).

Services

It’s important that you let your child’s social worker know, at time of placement, that you need child care. It is best to speak to your foster child’s social worker and your foster child’s primary care doctor first to request that your foster child have a health assessment. It is best to speak to your foster child’s social worker and your foster child’s primary care doctor first to request that your foster child have a health assessment – see Health Passport .

Known as an attorney ad litem, this lawyer represents your child’s desires and/or best interest in court. The judge may think you do not care about your child if you do not appear at court hearings. You should always go to court when you get a legal notice or a phone call saying that there will be a hearing about your child. CPS may remove children from their homes in an emergency before going to court to ensure their immediate safety. CPS may go to court to remove children from their homes if it believes children have been abused or neglected or are at risk of future abuses or neglect and they need to be removed for their protection.

I feel that my foster child needs counseling and the county placing agency is not providing these services – what can I do as the caregiver to make this happen? A county placing agency has told a relative caregiver to apply for CalWORKs instead of foster care payments. If a license has been suspended or revoked, foster children in placement will have been removed and the county will not place children with the caregiver pending the investigation and outcome. If your communication with the social worker is not satisfactory, you can contact the social worker’s supervisor and your foster child’s attorney. The previous foster parent does not have the legal right to be the first choice for placement in the event that a child re-enters foster care. If you wish to become the child’s permanent caregiver, make your wishes known as soon as possible to the child’s social worker.

You are encouraged to complete and submit this form to the court clerk at least five days prior to the hearing court date. You have the Right To submit information you deem relevant to the court in writing (JV 290 form). You have a Right To be notified in advance of court hearings and you have the right to attend dependency court reviews non gamstop casino and permanency hearings. The California First Five Commission (link removed) has information on day care and preschool resources.