Foster Care and Adoption Resources

Adopt US Kids
This is the national photo listing service for children awaiting adoption across the United States.
http://www.adoptuskids.org/

North American Council on Adoptable Children
Supports, educates, inspires, and advocates so adoptive families thrive and every child in foster care has a permanent, safe, loving family.
https://www.nacac.org/

Post-Adoption Support and Resources in NC
Visit this page to learn about the post-adoption resources the NC Division of Social Services makes available to North Carolina families.
https://www.ncdhhs.gov/divisions/social-services/nc-kids-adoption-and-foster-care-network/post-adoption-support-and

1. Keeping siblings together – AdoptUSKids, AdoptUSKids Explains why sibling relationships are important to children in foster care. This resource also answers commonly asked questions about adopting sibling groups.
2. Sibling Connections In Foster Care, Why They’re Important, Learn about the importance of sibling connections for children and youth in foster care and how sibling groups are more likely to be separated the longer they remain in care.
3. Joint Sibling Placements – Casey Family Programs, Casey Family Programs explains how child welfare agencies can promote and support sibling placement, visitation, and adoptions.
4. Sibling Connections – Wisconsin Family Connections Center, The Wisconsin Family Connections Center provides several links and resources to keep siblings in care connected.
5. Sibling Relationships – Creating a Family, Creating a Family has a resource page with podcasts, webinars, tip sheets, and more related to sibling connections.

Lifebooks can be so valuable. They are tools that can help eliminate young people’s confusion about their lives, answer their questions, and fill in gaps in their life story. They permanently record the fact that we care about them and their well-being.
https://fosteringnc.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13366/2021/10/Lifebook-Links.pdf

Foster Care and Beyond: Kinship Foster Care and Guardianship Assistance
Concisely explains the difference between licensed and unlicensed kinship foster care, defines guardianship, and outlines the eligibility requirements for NC’s Kinship Foster Care and Guardianship Assistance Program (KinGAP).

Comparison Chart for Caregivers
Answers common questions about the important differences in North Carolina between unlicensed and licensed kinship foster care, legal custody, legal guardianship, and adoption.

Tips and insights from foster families who are outstanding supporters of reunification. Developed by the American Bar Association.
https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/child_law/ParentRep/Reunification_Tip_Sheet.authcheckdam.pdf

Suggestions from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/family-dynamics/adoption-and-foster-care/Pages/Tips-for-Helping-Children-and-Teens-Before-and-After-Visitation.aspx

Child Welfare Information Gateway: Resources for Foster Parents
Offers information on supports, the fundamentals of parenting kids in care, working with birth families, and adopting a child from foster child.
https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/outofhome/resources-foster-families/

Foster Care and Adoption Resource Center (of Wisconsin)
This site has a Reading Room that offers Guidebooks, Tip Sheets, and other resources on a wide range of topics, including working with birth parents and raising resilient children.
https://wifostercareandadoption.org/

The Family Support Network of North Carolina has created “social stories” to help children understand changes to their lives after a weather emergency. Social stories are a collection of pictures and simple sentences that help make confusing situations easier to understand.

Social Story 1: Now I Am Safe

Social Story 2: When Screens Don’t Work I Can Still Do Fun Things

Social Story 3: When I Can’t Go to School After the Storm

Social Story 4: Staying Somewhere New

Hair Care and Cultural Autonomy

At Risk 4 Greatness has created this resource guide for substitute care involved stakeholders featuring resources, tips, recommendations, and more for best practice to inform hair hygiene maintenance and affirm cultural hair practices.

Internet Safety at Home (missingkids.org)

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has provided a quick and easy to read tip-sheet for keeping children and youth safe on the internet.

Internet Safety for Kids: Online Safety Tips (clevelandclinic.org)

The Cleveland Clinic has eight tips for keeping your children and youth safe while they use the internet, including key talking points for discussions about internet safety.

NC Foster Parent Competencies
In 2013 stakeholders from our state’s child welfare system developed this list of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes important to being a successful foster or adoptive parent. This list may serve as a helpful point of reference when thinking about your areas of strength and areas where you need more training or support.

NC Reach
A state-funded scholarship for up to 4 years of undergraduate study at NC public colleges and universities. Offered to qualified applicants who were adopted from the NC Division of Social Services foster care system after the age of 12, OR who aged out of NC DSS foster care at age 18. Also provides comprehensive student support, including mentors, care packages, and internships.http://www.ncreach.org

This guide for caregivers and youth-serving adults explains exploitation and human trafficking and how to protect a vulnerable youth.
https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/blue_campaign_youth_guide_508.pdf

Describes steps parents should take to ensure children and youth are safe online.
https://www.vpnmentor.com/blog/the-ultimate-parent-guide-for-child-internet/

A great place to find resources for helping children and teenagers recover from traumatic events.
https://www.nctsn.org/audiences/families-and-caregivers

Fostering Health NC Online Library
This online resource library from the NC Pediatric Society contains tools for establishing and supporting medical homes for infants, children, adolescents, and young adults in foster care. http://www.ncpeds.org/?page=FHNC
The following handouts from the library may be of particular interest to resource parents:

• Guidance for Foster/Kinship Caregivers
  • English
• Foster Care Well Child Check-Up
  • English
  • Spanish
• Keeping Children in Foster Care Healthy
  • English
  • Spanish
• Parenting After Trauma (A Guide for Foster and Adoptive Parents)
  • English
  • Spanish
• Medication Safety
  • English
  • Spanish
• 5 Tips to Help Your Child Sleep
  • English
  • Spanish
• Helping Your Child in Foster Care Handle Transitions
  • English
• Foster Care Dictionary
  • English

Fostering Perspectives
This publication is a rich trove of valuable information by and for resource parents on a wide range of topics. Many supervising agencies issue 30 minutes of training credit to foster parents who complete the quiz in each issue.
http://www.fosteringperspectives.org

Harvard Center on the Developing Child
Seeks to achieve breakthrough outcomes for children facing adversity. Their resource library offers working papers, recorded lectures, infographics, and briefs on a variety of interest to resource parents, including toxic stress, resilience, neglect, child development, and executive function.
https://developingchild.harvard.edu/

Sound it Out Together | Home

Sound It Out is a campaign that offers educational resources and activities from expert advisers to help parents and caregivers learn and practice healthy emotional wellbeing

https://sounditouttogether.org/

StopBullying.org

StopBullying.gov provides information from various government agencies on what bullying is, what cyberbullying is, who is at risk, and how you can prevent and respond to bullying.

https://www.stopbullying.gov/

Represent Magazine
Publishes true stories by teens in care that show how they tackle tough issues like getting along with foster parents and managing difficult emotions. Teens say the stories make them feel less alone. Each issue includes independent living lessons.https://www.representmag.org/

SaySo: Strong Able Youth Speaking Out
A North Carolina association of youth aged 14 to 24 who are or have been in out-of-home care. SaySo’s mission is to work to improve the substitute care system by educating the community, speaking out about needed changes, and providing support to youth who are or have been in substitute care.
https://saysonc.org/

Child Trends Disaster Toolkit

A Toolkit for Child Welfare Agencies to Help Young People Heal and Thrive During and After Natural Disasters
https://www.childtrends.org/publications/toolkit-child-welfare-agencies-natural-disastershttps://www.ffa-nc.org/

Foster Family Alliance of North Carolina
This statewide association focuses on recruiting new foster and adoptive parents, offering assistance and training to existing resource families, and establishing needed changes in policy.
https://www.ffa-nc.org/

National Foster Parent Association
This nonprofit provides education and training to foster parents and promotes excellence and best practice in foster care.
https://nfpaonline.org/

It also offers free online training to caregivers via the NFPA Training Institute.
https://www.nfpati.org/

North American Council on Adoptable Children
Supports, educates, inspires, and advocates so adoptive families thrive and every child in foster care has a permanent, safe, loving family.
https://www.nacac.org/

MedlinePlus

MedlinePlus is a service of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the world’s largest medical library, which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  MedlinePlus presents high-quality, relevant health and wellness information that is trusted, easy to understand, and free of advertising, in both English and Spanish.

https://medlineplus.gov/

Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
Useful advice for grandparents who have stepped in to serve as the primary parent for their grandchildren.
http://www.helpguide.org/articles/parenting-family/grandparents-raising-grandchildren.htm

Foster Care and Beyond: Kinship Foster Care and Guardianship AssistanceConcisely explains the difference between licensed and unlicensed kinship foster care, defines guardianship, and outlines the eligibility requirements for NC’s Kinship Foster Care and Guardianship Assistance Program (KinGAP).

Comparison Chart for Caregivers
Answers common questions about the important differences in North Carolina between unlicensed and licensed kinship foster care, legal custody, legal guardianship, and adoption.

NC Division of Social Services (NC DSS)
This agency oversees the administration of North Carolina’s child welfare system. https://www.ncdhhs.gov/divisions/dss

SaySo: Strong Able Youth Speaking Out
A North Carolina association of youth aged 14 to 24 who are or have been in out-of-home care. SaySo’s mission is to work to improve the substitute care system by educating the community, speaking out about needed changes, and providing support to youth who are or have been in substitute care.
https://saysonc.org/

NC Kids Adoption and Foster Care Network
A source of support for foster and adoptive families. NC Kids is also North Carolina’s online registry of children from the foster care system who are legally free for adoption. NC Kids connects waiting children with families, offers matching services for waiting children with pre-approved families registered with NC Kids, and provides adoption support services, including information on how to get started on your adoption.
Hotline 877-625-4371 or email nc.kids@dhhs.nc.gov
https://www.ncdhhs.gov/nc-kids-adoption-and-foster-care-network

NC Reach
A state-funded scholarship for up to 4 years of undergraduate study at NC public colleges and universities. Offered to qualified applicants who were adopted from the NC Division of Social Services foster care system after the age of 12, OR who aged out of NC DSS foster care at age 18. Also provides comprehensive student support, including mentors, care packages, and internships.http://www.ncreach.org

Post-Adoption Support and Resources in NC
Visit this page to learn about the post-adoption resources the NC Division of Social Services makes available to North Carolina families.
https://www.ncdhhs.gov/divisions/social-services/nc-kids-adoption-and-foster-care-network/post-adoption-support-and

Foster Family Alliance of North Carolina
This statewide association focuses on recruiting new foster and adoptive parents, offering assistance and training to existing resource families, and establishing needed changes in policy.
https://www.ffa-nc.org/

NCCARE360
This site is is the first statewide coordinated care network that better connects individuals to local services and resources.
https://nccare360.org/

How to Apply for an Eligibility Letter for Foreign National Minors who Experienced Human Trafficking
*This resource is for child welfare professionals* This short video from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) explains how to submit a request for assistance If you are working with a foreign national minor (non-US citizen/legal permanent resident and currently under 18) and have concerns that they may have experienced forced labor or commercial sex at any point in their life.