Nearly half a million children nationwide live temporarily with foster parents while their own parents struggle to overcome an addiction to alcohol, drugs, illness, financial hardship or other difficulties. Because of the hardship or maltreatment they experienced at home, the trauma of being separated from their birth parents, and the uncertainty they face as they enter the foster care system, children in foster care have many needs. They can also be remarkably resilient.

Foster care frequently is confused with adoption. Adoption is a legal process that creates a relationship of parent and child between individuals who do not have parental rights for the child at birth. The child in this situation becomes a permanent member of a new family, and all legal bonds to birth parents are severed. By contrast, most children reside only temporarily with their foster parents, until it is considered safe for them to return home. A child's stay with foster parents can be as short as one night or as long as several years or more. One large study found that 27 percent of children in foster care stay for less than six months, while approximately 33 percent remain in care for two years or longer. Some children in foster care eventually may be adopted, but most will return to their birth parents. Approximately one-quarter of the children in care have no plans for being either reunited with their birth parents or adopted.

Children can enter foster care at any age. Currently, about 25 percent of all children entering foster care for the first time are infants, and 60 percent are under four years old. Youth between the ages of 13 and 18 comprise roughly 33 percent of all children in care. Children in foster care also come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. In 1990, 40 percent were African-American, 33 percent were Caucasian, 12 percent were Hispanic, and 4 percent came from other racial/ethnic groups. The proportion of children of color in foster care is three times greater than the proportion represented in the U.S. population.

Children who enter the foster care system bring with them many special needs. Often they are victims of physical abuse, sexual abuse or neglect. They may suffer emotional, behavioral or developmental problems that range from moderate to severe. In more than 75 percent of foster care placements, parental abuse of drugs or alcohol has been identified as a factor. Children from these families may have lacked consistent nurturing and care giving for a significant portion of their childhood, or they may have suffered the effects of erratic and abusive behavior that often accompanies substance abuse.

In addition, children in need of foster care often possess their own unique health and developmental challenges. Infants and young children with medical complications, physical handicaps, or mental limitations represent the fastest-growing population in need of foster care. Children and youth in foster care often have substantial educational needs as well. Having moved from family to family and school to school, children in foster care tend to perform poorly in school and enter the work world with limited job skills.

Teenagers in foster care are particularly vulnerable. Each year, an estimated 25,000 adolescents "age out" of the foster care system. This is because at the age of emancipation (generally 18) the state no longer will pay foster parents for expenses. Their transition to independence is particularly difficult because the foster care system lacks the resources needed to prepare teens adequately for independent living. Currently, fewer than 25% of foster care agencies provide employment-related services for youths in care; only 17% provide employment and career-training assessments; 16% provide job-training; and 24% provide vocational training.

Like the children they serve, foster parents come from a variety of backgrounds. They can be single, married or divorced. They can choose to stay at home with the children, or retain outside employment. They can be as young as 21, or they can be retired seniors. People who are interested in becoming foster parents must first demonstrate the qualities and attributes essential to fostering, including attentiveness, tenacity, patience, and empathy, along with a willingness to grow and learn from the experience of fostering and an equal capacity to love and let go. Then, if they can offer a safe living environment, adequate bedroom space to accommodate a child, and sufficient income to make ends meet even without the reimbursement received through a foster care agency, they can learn, through training programs, the other skills essential for effective fostering.

Foster parents are reimbursed by the state for at least part of the cost of caring for the child. In addition, health costs for children in care are covered by Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for individuals who are poor or disabled, although Medicaid often does not cover mental health services. While children are being cared for by foster parents, their birth parents have an opportunity to obtain treatment and services for the problems they are experiencing, and to work with the foster care agency and foster parents toward the appropriate permanent plan for each child.

Approximately 125,000 non-relative families nationwide are licensed to provide foster care, and the average foster parent is licensed to care for three children. A variety of complex social and economic factors have contributed in recent years to a steady increase in the number of children requiring out-of-home care. Between 1984 and 1993, the number of children in need of out-of-home care increased by 61 percent, while the number of non-relative foster parents available to care for children steadily declined. The result has been a shortage of foster parents, particularly foster parents of color and those who are willing and able to care for sibling groups, medically fragile infants and emotionally disturbed teens. Thus, recruitment and retention of foster parents currently rank among the most pressing needs in the child welfare system.