How to Become a Foster Parent in Wyoming

Right now, Wyoming’s Department of Family Services is short on foster homes, and real children are waiting because of it. According to Wyoming’s foster and adoptive parent recruitment plan, on average 921 children were in out-of-home placements in a single fiscal year, and the state has identified an ongoing need for homes that will take older youth, sibling groups, and children with specialized care needs.

Getting licensed involves a real process: an application, background checks, training, a home study, and a certification review. It takes most people three to six months from first inquiry to first placement. The sections below walk you through each step so you know what’s coming and why it’s required.

Who can be a foster parent in Wyoming?

The requirements to become a foster parent are broader than most people expect. You don’t have to be married. You don’t have to own your home. You don’t have to be wealthy. What Wyoming is looking for is simpler than that: a stable adult who can provide a safe, caring home for a child who needs one.

Age and marital status

You need to be an adult, which in Wyoming means 18 or older. Beyond that, the state doesn’t require a particular family structure. Single adults, married couples, and unmarried partners can all apply. According to Wyoming’s foster and adoptive parent recruitment plan, the state actively seeks homes that reflect the diversity of children in care, which means recruitment is intentionally broad, not narrow.

Financial stability

You don’t need a high income, but you do need to be financially stable. The foster care stipend Wyoming provides is meant to help cover the costs of caring for a child, including room, board, and clothing. It’s not designed to be income for the household. Wyoming foster care guidance from FosterUSKids is clear on this point: applicants must be financially stable before housing foster children, because the stipend supplements care costs rather than replacing a paycheck.

There’s no specific income threshold you have to meet. What matters is that your household can support itself before a foster child arrives.

Physical and mental health

You’ll need to be in good enough health, physically and mentally, to care for a child. This isn’t about being perfect. It’s about demonstrating that your health won’t prevent you from meeting a child’s daily needs. A medical assessment is part of the process. If you manage a chronic condition or have a history of mental health treatment, that alone won’t disqualify you. What evaluators are looking at is your current functioning and your ability to provide stable, consistent care.

Where you live

You don’t need to own a home. Renters qualify. What matters is that your living space is safe and has enough room for a child. Your home will be assessed as part of the licensing process, but the bar is about safety and adequacy, not square footage or aesthetics.

Who else lives with you

Everyone in your household will be part of the process to some degree. Adults in the home will be subject to background checks. The assessment will also consider how your current household members, including children already in your home, are doing. The goal is to make sure a placement would be a good fit for everyone involved, not just the applicant.

One honest thing to keep in mind

Wyoming has a real shortage of foster homes right now. The state especially needs families willing to care for older children, teenagers, and sibling groups. If you’ve been wondering whether you’d qualify, the honest answer is that the system needs you to try. The requirements exist to protect children, not to screen out anyone who doesn’t fit a narrow mold.

Requirements vary by county — check with your local agency for specifics on what your particular office requires during the assessment process.

Background check requirements in Wyoming

Before a child ever spends a night in your home, Wyoming wants to know who lives there. That’s not a bureaucratic formality. It’s the foundation of the whole licensing process, and understanding what’s involved will help you move through it without surprises.

Who has to complete checks

It’s not just you. Wyoming’s administrative code on background checks requires that every adult living in your household complete the same checks you do. That includes a partner, a roommate, an adult child, or anyone else who calls your address home. If a new adult moves in after you’re licensed, their checks must be completed before they move in, not after.

What checks are required

Wyoming requires three distinct checks for foster parents and all adult household members:

• A Wyoming child abuse and neglect Central Registry check
• A Central Registry check from any other state where you’ve lived in the past five years
• A fingerprint-based national criminal history records check

These apply before you’re approved and again on a regular schedule once you’re licensed. The Joint Judiciary Interim Committee presentation on Wyoming foster care confirms that fingerprint-based checks cover both state and national criminal records as well as sex offender registries.

How often checks are renewed

Getting licensed isn’t a one-time clearance. Wyoming uses a two-track renewal schedule. You’ll complete a Central Registry child abuse and neglect check every year. The full fingerprint-based national criminal history check comes up every five years. Wyoming’s certifying authority can also require a new Central Registry check at any time, for any reason, outside that annual cycle. Foster care recertification happens on a two-year cycle, and updated background checks are part of that process.

What can disqualify you

Wyoming’s background check regulations are specific about what disqualifies an applicant. Anyone whose name appears as substantiated on the Central Registry can’t be approved for foster care or live in a licensed home. On the criminal history side, certain convictions are automatic bars. These include felony convictions for:

• Abuse, neglect, abandonment, or exploitation of children or vulnerable adults
• Any sexual offense against a person or child
• Violence, including rape, sexual assault, kidnapping, battery, or homicide
• Crimes against a child, including child pornography
• Drug offenses within the last ten years
• Alcohol-related offenses within the last ten years
• Domestic violence
• Arson

Misdemeanor convictions can also disqualify you, particularly for violent offenses against a child, battery or physical assault within the last five years, any sexual offense against an adult or child, or child endangerment within the last five years.

There’s a narrow exception worth knowing. For certain convictions, specifically physical assault, battery, arson, domestic violence, and misdemeanor battery or physical assault, that occurred more than five years ago, the agency is required to assess whether rehabilitation has occurred. That assessment has to be documented and submitted to the certifying authority before approval. So a past conviction in one of those categories doesn’t automatically end your application, but it will require an honest conversation with your agency.

No person who has been charged with a disqualifying crime and is awaiting trial can provide care or even be present in a licensed foster home while those proceedings are pending.

Requirements vary by county — check with your agency for specifics on how the rehabilitation review process works in your area and what documentation you’ll need to provide.

What to expect from the home study

You’ve filled out the application, you’ve done the orientation, and now someone is going to come to your house and look around. That’s the part that makes most people nervous. Here’s what’s actually happening: a foster care coordinator is trying to get to know you, understand your home, and make sure the pieces are in place to bring a child safely into your life.

Who conducts the home study

Wyoming has fourteen designated foster care coordinators across the state, and one of them will be assigned to you. According to Wyoming’s foster and adoptive parent recruitment plan, these coordinators are responsible for certification activities, which means conducting home studies is a core part of their job. This isn’t a stranger with a clipboard doing a one-time inspection. It’s a professional whose specific role is to assess and certify foster homes.

What the home study actually involves

Think of it as a conversation that happens to include a walkthrough. Wyoming foster care guidance from FosterUSKids describes the assessment as a process that includes a home visit and interviews with social workers to ensure you’re a good fit and ready to be matched with a foster child. The coordinator isn’t looking for a perfect house or a perfect family history. They’re looking for safety, stability, and your capacity to care for a child who may have had a hard time.

During the home visit, the coordinator will walk through your space to make sure it meets basic safety standards. During the interviews, expect questions about your background, your relationships, your parenting approach, and why you want to foster. If other people live in your home, they’ll likely be part of the conversation too.

What the coordinator is looking for

The goal of the home study is to verify that your home and your household can provide what a child in foster care needs: safety, a stable environment, and a caring adult who’s financially able to meet a child’s basic needs. The guidance notes that applicants need to be financially stable before housing foster kids, because the foster care stipend is meant to cover a child’s costs, not supplement a foster parent’s income.

The coordinator is also paying attention to less tangible things: how you talk about children, how you describe your support system, how you respond to questions about challenging behaviors. They’re not trying to catch you out. They’re trying to understand whether you’re ready, and if there are gaps, whether training or additional support can help close them.

How long it takes

From the time you start the process to the time you have a license in hand, Wyoming foster care resources describe a typical timeline of three to six months. The home study itself is one piece of that, sitting between your pre-service training and your final certification. The overall pace depends on how quickly you complete required steps, how your coordinator’s caseload looks, and how fast background check results come back.

Requirements vary by county, so check with your agency for specifics on scheduling and what documentation you’ll need to have ready when the coordinator visits.

The home study doesn’t end with a pass or fail announcement at your kitchen table. It’s a process that feeds into the broader certification review. If something needs to be addressed, your coordinator will tell you.

Pre-service training requirements

You’re not going to show up on day one with no preparation. Before a child is placed in your home, Wyoming requires you to complete pre-service training, and there’s a specific program name you’ll want to know: PRIDE.

The PRIDE program

PRIDE stands for Parent Resources for Information, Development, and Education. It’s a pre-service curriculum developed by the Child Welfare League of America, and according to the Wyoming Foster and Adoptive Parent Diligent Recruitment Plan, completing PRIDE is an essential requirement for initial certification as a foster parent in Wyoming. Your foster care coordinator documents your PRIDE completion in your foster home file, so keep track of your attendance.

How many hours and what’s covered

The state requires 30 hours of initial training before you can be licensed. That number comes from the Foster Care in Wyoming presentation to the Joint Judiciary Interim Committee, which lists 30 hours of initial training alongside CPR certification as part of what’s required for a foster family home. CPR certification is a separate piece, not folded into those 30 hours.

Wyoming’s FosterUSKids page describes the pre-service training as covering essential topics including what to expect as a foster parent and trauma-informed foster care. That framing is accurate: PRIDE is designed to give you a realistic picture of who the children are, what they’ve been through, and what you’ll actually be doing day to day.

What counts toward your training hours

During your first year of certification, the 18-hour training requirement can be fulfilled through your PRIDE participation and first aid and CPR training. After that initial period, re-certification requires 36 hours of training over each two-year certification cycle. The Diligent Recruitment Plan lays out a broad range of activities that can count toward those ongoing hours:

• Attending trainings, workshops, classes, conferences, and support groups
• Psychoeducation provided by your placed child’s therapist
• Webinar attendance
• Topic-specific books and videos
• College courses
• Foster Parent College
• Review of relevant foster care literature

Your foster care coordinator works with you individually to determine which activities apply and how many hours each is worth.

Specialized foster care training

If you’re pursuing a specialized foster care certification, there’s an additional program called TFTC. It’s a training and consultation model that incorporates elements from evidence-based treatments and focuses on practical parenting skills for higher-needs placements. As the Diligent Recruitment Plan explains, completing TFTC is required for foster parents to qualify for the higher reimbursement rate tied to specialized certification. It uses a train-the-trainer design, meaning supervisors learn the model first and then train foster parents directly.

What your county or agency may add

Requirements vary by county — check with your agency for specifics on how PRIDE sessions are scheduled in your area, whether training is delivered in person or online, and whether your agency layers on any additional pre-placement requirements beyond what the state mandates.

License types and renewal in Wyoming

You’ve probably wondered whether there’s one kind of foster license or several, and whether the type of license affects what kids can be placed with you. The short answer is yes: Wyoming uses different certification categories, and they do matter.

The main certification categories

Wyoming’s foster and adoptive parent recruitment plan describes the state’s focus on certifying homes across several categories, including general foster care, relative foster care, and specialized care. Specialized certification is designed for homes that take on children with more complex needs, and it comes with a higher reimbursement rate. To qualify for that higher rate, foster parents must complete a training program called TFTC, a consultation and training model built specifically for specialized foster care. That certification doesn’t just mean more money; it means you’re trained to support kids who’ve had a harder road.

Foster care coordinators in Wyoming work with prospective parents to assess which certification category fits their household and the children they’re able to care for.

Provisional and temporary approvals

Wyoming does use provisional certification for homes that are moving through the process but haven’t yet met every requirement. This allows a child to be placed in a home while remaining steps are completed. Temporary approvals are also used in some situations, particularly for relative placements where a child needs a safe home quickly and a family member steps up. Requirements vary by county, so check with your local agency for specifics on how provisional and temporary approvals work in your area.

How the certification period works

Your initial certification covers one year. During that first year, Wyoming’s foster and adoptive parent recruitment plan requires 18 hours of training, which can include your PRIDE pre-service training and first aid and CPR certification.

Renewal: what 36 hours actually looks like

After that first year, Wyoming moves to a two-year certification cycle. To renew, you’ll need to complete 36 hours of training during each two-year period. The state counts a wide range of activities toward that total:

• Attending trainings, workshops, classes, conferences, and support groups
• Psychoeducation provided by your placed child’s therapist
• Webinar attendance
• Topic-specific books and videos
• College courses
• Foster Parent College courses
• Reviewing relevant literature, such as fostering- and adoption-focused publications

Your foster care coordinator works with you to figure out what counts and how many hours each activity is worth.

Before renewing, the state reviews your file to confirm all certification requirements are still met. District managers or their designees sign off on renewed certificates, and files may be audited periodically to make sure nothing was missed.

Staying licensed: what’s required after approval

Getting licensed isn’t a finish line. It’s more like a starting point, and Wyoming’s system is built around the idea that foster parents keep learning, keep being checked in on, and keep the state informed when things in their household change.

Continuing education and recertification

Your first certification period comes with a training requirement of 18 hours, which you’ll mostly fulfill through your pre-service PRIDE training and first aid and CPR certification. After that, the bar goes up. According to the Wyoming Foster and Adoptive Parent Diligent Recruitment Plan, each two-year recertification period requires 36 hours of continuing education. Wyoming accepts:

• Workshops, conferences, trainings, and support groups
• Webinars
• Topic-specific books and videos
• College courses
• Foster Parent College
• Psychoeducation provided by a child’s therapist
• Review of relevant literature in the field

Your foster care coordinator helps you figure out what qualifies and how many hours each activity is worth.

If you’re in specialized foster care and want to qualify for a higher reimbursement rate, you’ll also need to complete the TFTC training, which is a consultation and training model focused on practical parenting skills for kids with more complex needs.

Recertification and background check updates

Wyoming certifies foster homes on a two-year cycle. When it’s time to recertify, you don’t just submit paperwork. As noted in the Foster Care in Wyoming legislative briefing, recertification includes updated background checks alongside the continuing education requirement. That means fingerprint-based checks, state and national criminal records, sex offender registries, and Wyoming’s Central Registry are all run again before your certification is renewed.

Household changes and reporting obligations

If something significant changes in your household during an active certification period, you’re expected to report it. This isn’t just good practice. It’s a condition of staying certified. Changes that would typically require notification include new adults moving into the home, since anyone over a certain age is subject to background check requirements.

Your foster care coordinator is your main point of contact for all of this. Wyoming has fourteen foster care coordinators across the state, and they hold regular check-ins with foster families as part of the ongoing certification and retention work the department does. If you’re ever unsure whether a change in your household needs to be reported, call your coordinator and ask.

Requirements vary by county — check with your agency for specifics on how and when to report household changes.

What recertification actually feels like

The recertification process is a review of your home file, not an interrogation. District managers or their designees review files before certificates are signed to confirm all requirements have been met. Most foster parents who stay engaged, complete their training hours, and keep their coordinator in the loop move through recertification without major difficulty.