There are several places on this website that provide statistics on foster care:

• Our Statistics and Data section provides basic statistics about foster care in the United States at the national and state levels, as well as national statistics about the overrepresentation of children of color in the U.S. foster care system.

For more statistics, see:

• Adoption and Foster Care Statistics on the website of the Children's Bureau
• Child Welfare League of America's National Data Analysis System
• Foster care, adoption, and guardianship statistics on the website of the National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice and Permanency Planning.

Explore this website to learn the facts about foster care and to gain an understanding of the needs of those touched by this issue.

Each of the partners in the National Foster Care Month effort can provide you with more information.

Respite care is short-term care of a child in order to give the regular caregiver a break. Respite can be for a few hours or a week or more.

Each state or county has its own procedures for foster parents to get respite care, and many private agencies also provide their own forms of respite.

If you are a foster parent or kinship caregiver, your first step should be to check with your social worker to find out what types of respite, if any, are available to you.

Other sources of information about respite care are:

• Your state or local foster parent association
• The ARCH National Respite Locator Service

Training requirements for foster parenting vary from state to state. Most states require both training before you become a foster parent (pre-service training) and ongoing, or in-service training, to maintain your license.

You can find state requirements for both pre-service and in-service training on the website of the National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning.

If your relative is currently in foster care, begin by contacting the agency that placed him or her. They should be able to provide you with information about your relative’s custody.

You may wish to consult an attorney who specializes in these matters. You may be eligible for low- or no-cost legal assistance. You can find information about qualifications for free legal aid and locating an attorney in your state on the website of the American Bar Association.

If your or your relative has been adopted, you should contact the state reunion registry in the state in which the adoption took place. You can find that information by visiting the National Adoption Directory online database. Select the state in the pull-down menu, check State Reunion Registry under Statewide Services, and click on "submit search."

Another organization that helps with search efforts is Bastard Nation.

There is no regular newsletter associated with National Foster Care Month. However, several of the partners in this campaign do have newsletter to which you can subscribe:

• NRCFCPPP Weekly Update is a weekly email newsletter containing six links to online information of interest to people who care about foster care and child welfare. Subscribe by visiting the National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice and Permanency Planning.
• Foster Families, Fostering Change is an electronic newsletter about what's new and what's next in foster care. Subscribe on the Casey Family Programs website.
• Casey Connects is a quarterly newsletter published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
• The Child Welfare League of Americapublishes several free newsletters:

1. WeR4Kdz E-Bulletin is an e-bulletin; each issue covers a single topic affecting children, youth, and families in a brief, reader-friendly format, with links to further information on the Internet.
2. Children's Monitor keeps you informed of the key children's issues being debated in Washington, with the latest information on federal legislation, regulations, and policy affecting children, youth, and families.
3. The Kinship Reporter provides news, updates, and more from professionals in the field and from grandparents and others who are caring for the children of family members.
4. The Link is a quarterly newsletter that explores the link between involvement in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.
5. Residential Group Care Quarterly examines the latest developments and issues in the field of residential care.

• Children's Bureau Express is an online newsletter designed for professionals concerned with child abuse and neglect, child welfare, and adoption. It is supported by the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and published by Child Welfare Information Gateway.
• The National Foster Parent Association publishes the National Advocate quarterly. This print-based newsletter highlights current issues and topics of interest to care givers, lists supportive resources available, and provides opportunities for involvement in the organization as well as in the child welfare community. Subscription is included in membership fee.

Children with special needs may qualify for adoption assistance (also called "adoption subsidy"), which is paid to adoptive families to help them defray expenses related to their child's need for ongoing therapies or treatment. There are two major funding sources of adoption assistance: the Federal Title IV-E program under the Social Security Act and State programs, which vary from State to State. The Child Welfare Information Gateway, which provided this information, has several documents about adoption assistance/subsidies on its website.

The North American Council on Adoptable Children maintains the national Adoption Subsidy Resource Center to educate parents and professionals on Title IV-E Adoption Assistance in the United States. Their website provides profiles on each of the state subsidy programs, definitions of special needs, and fact sheets on various aspects relating to post-adoption support programs.

The John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program was created in 1999 with passage of the Foster Care Independence Act. This program provides services to both youth in foster care who are preparing to transition to adulthood and youth 18-21 who have already left foster care and need assistance. It was designed to:

• Help young people who are likely to remain in foster care until 18 years of age make the transition to self-sufficiency by providing services such as assistance in obtaining a high school diploma, career exploration, vocational training, job placement and retention, training in daily living skills, training in budgeting and financial management skills, substance abuse prevention, and preventive health activities;
• Help these young people receive the education, training and services necessary to obtain employment;
• Help these young people prepare for and enter post secondary training and education institutions;
• Provide personal and emotional support to young people aging out of foster care, through mentors and the promotion of interactions with dedicated adults; and
• Provide financial, housing, counseling, employment, education and other appropriate support and services to former foster care recipients between 18 and 21 years of age; and
• Make available vouchers for education and training, including post secondary learning and education, to youths who have aged out of foster care.

Visit the website of the National Child Welfare Resource Center for Youth Development (NCWRCYD) for more information about this program, including state fact sheets that have information on state Independent Living coordinators, administration of Chafee dollars, services for youth over 18, and more. You may either view all of the information on one state or query all of the states on selected topics. The pages are provided through a partnership with the National Foster Care Coalition.

Child custody decisions are made by individual state, county, or city child welfare agencies in conjunction with the local courts. You should begin by contacting that agency. Check the local government section of your telephone directory. The agency may be listed under “child services,” “child and family services,” “human services,” or another name.

To find out more about kinship care in your state, see the State Fact Sheets for Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Children developed by The Children's Defense Fund, AARP, Casey Family Programs, The Brookdale Foundation, Child Welfare League of America, Generations United, The Urban Institute, and Johnson & Hedgpeth Consultants, which you can find online at http://www.giclocalsupport.org/pages/state_fact_sheets.cfm

You might want to contact an attorney. You can find information about qualifications for free legal aid and locating an attorney in your state on the website of the American Bar Association

All children who receive foster care payments from their states are automatically eligible for Medicaid.

If you are caring for a child, usually a relative, under another program, such as unlicensed kinship care, you may be able to enroll the child in your State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Visit the Insure Kids Now! website to find out about free or low-cost medical insurance in your state.

Additional information about health care for children may be available on your State Fact Sheet for Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Children, developed by The Children's Defense Fund, AARP, Casey Family Programs, The Brookdale Foundation, Child Welfare League of America, Generations United, The Urban Institute, and Johnson & Hedgpeth Consultants.

Each state has its own laws and regulations concerning guardianship. Most have subsidized guardianship programs, through which a person, usually one who is related to or known to the child, provides a permanent, safe, loving home. Guardians under such programs may receive a subsidy from the state to help provide for the child's needs.

You can find links to extensive information about subsidized guardianship, including state-by-state information, at the website of the National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning.

The children in the child welfare system, their families, the foster and adoptive parents who care for them, and the child welfare professionals who are responsible for their cases represent the full spectrum of racial, ethnic, religious and cultural diversity in the United States, and include individuals of all ages, genders, and sexual orientations, and who speak many languages in addition to English.

In many states there are more children and youth of color in the child welfare system than in the general population. To learn more about this, visit the Disproportionality section of this website.

There are some states that do not welcome gay and lesbian individuals as foster or adoptive parents, but there are many more that do. You should contact your own state for more information.