How to Become a Foster Parent in Delaware

Right now, more than 500 children in Delaware need a foster family. According to Delaware’s Division of Family Services, those children range from infants to teenagers, from every background, and some have special needs or require extra support to catch up with their peers. The agency overseeing all of this is the Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families, and their stated goal for most of those children is reunion with their birth family. That means when you foster, you’re not replacing anyone. You’re holding a child steady while their family finds its footing again.

The path to becoming a licensed foster parent in Delaware has real steps: an information session, training, an application, a home study, and a final review. Each one is manageable, and this guide walks you through all of them.

Who can be a foster parent in Delaware?

Most people who look into fostering assume they won’t qualify. The requirements are broader than you probably expect, and Delaware’s system is built around finding good caregivers, not screening people out on technicalities.

Age and marital status

You need to be at least 18 years old. According to Delaware’s foster care recruitment materials, you can be single, married, divorced, or partnered. Your relationship status doesn’t determine your eligibility. Two-parent households are welcome. So are single adults. The state is looking for stable, committed people, not a particular family shape.

Your home and household

You don’t need to own your home. Renters qualify. What matters is that your space is safe and appropriate for a child. Every adult living in your household, age 18 and older, will need to complete background checks as part of the process.

Income

You don’t need to be wealthy, but you do need to show that you can meet your own family’s basic needs without relying on the foster care stipend to do it. Delaware’s recruitment materials confirm that foster parents must have a stable source of income, but there’s no specific dollar amount or income threshold you have to hit. The point is that the monthly board payment you receive for a foster child is meant to cover that child’s needs, not plug holes in your household budget.

Physical and mental health

You’ll need to provide documentation that you’re in good enough health to care for a child. That means a physical exam and a health statement from your doctor. The review isn’t designed to exclude people with chronic conditions or mental health histories. It’s designed to confirm that you’re stable and able to meet the demands of parenting. Delaware’s Division of Family Services makes clear that the goal is to find capable caregivers, and health is evaluated in that context, not as a gatekeeping exercise.

A note on background checks

Everyone in the household 18 and older will go through a criminal history check and a Child Protection Registry check. Having something in your past doesn’t automatically disqualify you. The nature of an offense, how long ago it happened, and what’s changed since then all factor into the review. Full details on how background checks work are covered in the next section.

Requirements may vary depending on which agency you work with. Check with your specific agency for details that apply to your situation.

Background check requirements in Delaware

Before a child ever sets foot in your home, Delaware wants to know who lives there. The checks are more thorough than most people expect.

Who has to be checked

It’s not just you. Delaware’s Criminal History Unit requires criminal background and Child Protection Registry checks for prospective foster parents and all adult household members. According to Delaware Administrative Code Title 9, Chapter 301, the state defines “foster parents” to include all household members 18 years of age or older, so if your adult child lives with you, or your partner, or anyone else in the home, they’re part of this process too.

What the checks include

Delaware runs a comprehensive background check, not a single database search. According to Delaware’s comprehensive background check guidance, everyone who needs to be checked must be fingerprinted at a designated Delaware State Police location. The check pulls from:

• Delaware Criminal Record Check (SBI)
• National Criminal Record Check (FBI)
• Delaware Child Protection Registry Check
• Delaware Sex Offenders Registry Check
• National Sex Offenders Registry Check

If you’ve lived outside Delaware in the past five years, additional checks are required in those states, including a state criminal history check, a state child abuse and neglect registry check, and a state sex offender registry check. The Criminal History Unit handles coordinating those out-of-state checks.

What it costs

For most applicants, the fingerprinted criminal check and the Delaware Child Abuse Registry check are free. If you’ve lived out of state recently and need checks from another state, those states set their own fees, and there may be some cost involved. The Criminal History Unit can give you specifics based on your situation.

How often checks are renewed

Background checks aren’t a one-time thing. They’re required at least once every five years when you remain with the same provider or agency.

What can disqualify you

Certain criminal convictions and substantiated child abuse or neglect findings are outright prohibited under Delaware law, specifically under 31 Delaware Code Section 309 and 16 Delaware Code Section 923. If you fall into those categories, licensure isn’t possible.

But not every record is an automatic bar. Convictions and findings that are “ineligible” rather than “prohibited” are reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the Criminal History Unit, which uses a decision-making protocol that weighs multiple factors. If you’re found ineligible or prohibited, you’ll receive written notice and an explanation of how to request an administrative review.

If you have questions about your specific situation, you can reach the Criminal History Unit at DSCYF_CHU@delaware.gov or 302-892-4525 before you apply.

What to expect from the home study

You’ve filled out the paperwork and cleared your background checks. Now comes the part that makes a lot of people nervous: someone is going to come to your home, sit down with you, and ask you questions about your life. That’s the home study, and it’s worth understanding what it actually is before you spend time dreading it.

The home study is conducted by a caseworker from the Division of Family Services. Their job is to get a real picture of who you are, how you live, and what kind of home a child would be coming into.

What the caseworker is looking at

The caseworker is trying to understand your household as a whole. That means talking with everyone who lives there, not just the adults who filled out the application. They want to know how your family functions, how you handle stress, what your support system looks like, and why you want to foster.

Your home itself will also be looked at. The caseworker will walk through to make sure the physical space is safe and appropriate for a child. This isn’t about having a showroom-ready house. It’s about making sure there’s a safe place for a child to sleep, that hazards are addressed, and that the environment feels like a real home.

Who gets included

Everyone in the household matters here. According to Delaware Administrative Code Title 9, “foster parents” for purposes of the licensing process means foster and respite and adoptive parents and all household members 18 years of age or older. If you have adult children living with you, or another adult in the home, they’ll be part of the process too. The caseworker may speak with them separately or together with you.

How long it takes

The home study isn’t a single afternoon visit. It typically involves more than one meeting, and the full licensing process from your first information session through final approval takes time. Delaware’s Division of Family Services holds information sessions once per month in New Castle County and once a month in Kent or Sussex County, so your starting point depends on timing and where you live. Requirements vary by county, so check with your agency. The review process that follows involves document collection, background clearances, training, and the home study visits themselves, all of which happen more or less in parallel rather than strictly one after another.

Pre-service training requirements

You’ve done the research, talked to people, maybe attended an information session. Now comes training.

How many hours you’ll need

Delaware requires 27 hours of pre-service training before a child can be placed in your home. According to WHYY’s foster care guide for Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, those hours cover the role of the foster parent, child safety and development, positive behavior management, home health, and the importance of teamwork. Foster parenting isn’t a solo act. You’ll be working alongside caseworkers, birth families, teachers, and others, and the training is designed to prepare you for that reality.

What the state requires agencies to cover

The state doesn’t just set an hour requirement and walk away. Delaware Administrative Code section 936-II-37.0 requires licensed agencies to document that every applicant received training on specific topics, including:

• The foster parent’s role, responsibilities, and expectations as a member of the team responsible for a child’s care, education, and legal rights
• How to review a placement packet and understand what’s in it
• How birth parents, guardians, and other family members stay involved in a child’s life
• Safety procedures, including first aid and CPR certification with a hands-on skills component appropriate to the ages of children you’ll be caring for

The CPR requirement is worth flagging. It’s not an online click-through. The regulation specifies a hands-on demonstration, so plan on an in-person component for that piece.

Where training fits in the overall process

Training is step four in the path to licensure. Delaware’s foster care recruitment guide lays out the sequence: information session, home assessment, application, pre-service training, certification, and then placement. You won’t be completing training in isolation. It runs alongside other parts of the process, not after everything else is done.

Agency requirements on top of the state baseline

The 27-hour requirement and the mandated topics set the floor. Individual agencies can and do add to it. Requirements vary by county, so check with your agency for specifics. Your licensing agency may require additional hours, cover supplemental topics, or structure training differently depending on the types of placements they handle, such as teens, sibling groups, or children with medical needs. The DSCYF foster care page notes that DFS is particularly seeking families who can care for those groups, and agencies working with them often tailor training accordingly.

License types and renewal in Delaware

If you’ve started researching foster care in Delaware, you’ve probably noticed that the word “license” gets used in a few different ways. Delaware uses a tiered approval system, and understanding what each category means for your day-to-day life as a foster parent will save you a lot of confusion later.

How approvals are structured

According to Delaware Administrative Code Title 9, foster parents are approved through the Division of Family Services, not licensed the same way a child care center would be. The approval process runs through DFS or a contracted child placing agency, and it determines what kinds of placements your home can accept.

Delaware places children according to a levels-of-care model. The Division of Family Services foster care levels of care model describes a Basic Level 1 designation, which covers standard foster care placements. Children at this level need a stable, nurturing home but don’t require specialized therapeutic services. As you gain experience and complete additional training, you may become eligible to take placements at higher levels of care, which involve children with more complex needs.

Provisional approval: the starting point

Most families don’t receive full approval on day one, and that’s completely normal. Delaware’s administrative code on criminal history checks is explicit that foster parents may be provisionally approved before all background check results are returned. That means you could potentially have a child placed in your home during this window, but it also means that approval can be rescinded if a check comes back with a disqualifying result. Think of provisional status as a conditional green light, not a final one.

The Delacare procedures framework, described in the Office of Child Care Licensing procedures manual, outlines a similar provisional license structure for child care facilities more broadly: new applicants receive an initial provisional approval, then move through a review period before receiving a full annual license. Foster home approvals follow a comparable arc.

Moving to full approval

Once your background checks are cleared, your home study is complete, and your training requirements are met, your provisional status converts to a full approval. At that point, your approval is tied to an annual cycle. You’ll need to stay current with any ongoing requirements your agency sets, including updated clearances and training hours, to maintain that status.

Annual renewal

Your foster home approval doesn’t last indefinitely. Delaware’s foster parent resources from DSCYF make clear that staying licensed is an active process, not a one-time event. Renewal typically involves confirming that your household circumstances haven’t changed significantly, keeping your training current, and ensuring that any new adult household members have completed the required clearances.

Background checks themselves must be repeated on a regular schedule. According to Delaware’s comprehensive background check guidance, checks are required at least once every five years when a person remains continuously in their role. That applies to you and to any adult household members who were previously cleared.

Requirements vary by county, so check with your agency for specifics on what your renewal packet needs to include and when exactly it’s due.

Staying licensed: what’s required after approval

Getting licensed isn’t a finish line. It’s the beginning of an ongoing relationship with the state, and Delaware takes that seriously. Here’s what you’re signing up for once your license is in hand.

Background checks don’t stop at approval

One of the things that surprises new foster parents is that criminal history checks continue after you’re licensed, not just before. According to Delaware Administrative Code Title 9, Chapter 301, the state runs annual background checks through the state network, which includes a system that flags new convictions in real time. That means if something changes in any household member’s criminal history, the state will know.

According to the Delaware Title IV-E foster care eligibility review, this approach was specifically highlighted as a strength of the state’s oversight process, noting that the annual checks run through a tickler system for real-time updates on convictions.

Keeping your license current

Your foster care license isn’t permanent. It has to be renewed, and the renewal process exists to make sure your home still meets the same standards it did when you were first approved.

The Delacare Procedures Manual outlines the licensing cycle used by the Office of Child Care Licensing, which includes structured renewal procedures and the possibility of a provisional license if issues come up during a review period. If your license lapses because you didn’t apply for renewal, there are separate procedures that apply, and getting back to active status takes more work than simply renewing on time.

Requirements vary by county — check with your agency for specifics on timing and renewal paperwork.

When your household changes

If something significant changes in your home, you can’t just wait for the next renewal to mention it. Changes that affect who lives in your home, the physical condition of your space, or anything else that touches on the safety of a placed child need to be reported to your licensing worker promptly.

The Delacare Procedures Manual identifies specific categories of changes that can affect a license and in some cases require a new license entirely. Moving to a new address is one clear example. Adding a new adult to the household is another.

Your reporting obligations

Foster parents are mandated reporters in Delaware. That means if you have reason to believe a child in your care or any child you know is being abused or neglected, you’re legally required to report it. The Delaware Division of Family Services parent handbook explains that the Division is responsible for investigating all reports of intra-familial child abuse and neglect, and that all such reports must come to DFS.

What the state is looking at

The 2023 Child and Family Services Review final report evaluated Delaware’s child welfare practices across all three counties, including how well the system supports children in foster placements. Reviewers spoke directly with foster and adoptive caregivers as part of that process. The state is under ongoing federal scrutiny, which is one reason your licensing status, your training records, and your home conditions are tracked as carefully as they are.