How to Become a Foster Parent in Georgia

If you’re considering opening your home to a child in Georgia, Georgia’s Division of Family and Children Services runs the foster care program, and at any given time, thousands of children across the state need a safe, stable place to land. According to Georgia’s 2017 foster parent manual, DFCS’s mission centers on the safety, permanency, and well-being of those children, and foster parents are the people who make that mission real.

The path to becoming licensed has real steps: orientation, training, a home study, background checks, and an approval process. The sections below walk you through each part in plain terms so you know what to expect before you start.

Who can be a foster parent in Georgia?

Most people who look into this assume they won’t qualify. They’re single, or they rent, or they don’t make much money, or they already have kids at home. The truth is, Georgia’s eligibility requirements are much broader than most people expect. The state is looking for stable, caring adults, and that description fits a lot of different households.

Age and marital status

You need to be at least 21 years old to foster in Georgia. You can be single, married, divorced, or widowed. There’s no requirement that a two-parent household be involved. According to Georgia’s foster care regulations, the focus of the home evaluation is on your ability to meet a child’s needs, not on the structure of your household.

Income and housing

You don’t need to be wealthy. Georgia requires that you have enough income to support your existing household without depending on foster care payments to cover your basic expenses. The foster care stipend is meant to help cover the costs of caring for a foster child, not to serve as household income for you.

You can rent or own your home. The requirement is that your space is safe and adequate, not that you hold a deed. Each foster child needs their own bed and reasonable sleeping space, but there’s no rule that your home has to be large or expensive.

Physical and mental health

You’ll need a physician’s statement confirming that you’re in good enough health to care for a child. Georgia’s initial family evaluation policy is looking for conditions that would genuinely interfere with your ability to keep a child safe, not for every possible health history item to be disqualifying. If you manage a chronic condition well, that’s very different from having an untreated condition that affects your daily functioning.

Mental and emotional health are evaluated the same way. Your caseworker will want to understand how you handle stress, conflict, and change, because foster children often bring a lot of all three.

People already in your home

Everyone in your household matters in this process. Other adults living with you will need to go through background checks. Children already in your home are considered too, because the evaluation looks at how an additional child would fit into your existing family. Having biological or adopted children at home doesn’t disqualify you.

Georgia’s child-placing agency interpretive guidelines make clear that the term “family members” includes any household member, whether or not they’re related to the prospective foster parents. That means roommates, adult children living at home, and others all factor into the review.

How many children can be in the home

Georgia generally allows up to six foster children in a single home at one time. There are exceptions: that limit can be exceeded to keep siblings together or to allow a parenting youth in foster care to remain with their own child, as outlined in Georgia’s rules and regulations for child-placing agencies.

Requirements vary by county, so check with your agency for specifics on anything that touches your individual situation.

Background check requirements in Georgia

The background check process is one of the more involved parts of Georgia’s licensing requirements. Here’s what that actually looks like.

Who has to be checked

It’s not just you. According to Georgia’s criminal records check policy, every adult age 18 and older who lives in your home, permanently or temporarily, must complete a fingerprint-based criminal background check before a child can be placed with you. That includes a spouse or partner, an adult child living at home, or a relative who stays with you regularly.

If someone in your household turns 18 after you’re already licensed, DFCS has to conduct their check within 30 calendar days of that birthday. The same 30-day window applies to any new adult who moves into your home.

What the check involves

Georgia uses electronic fingerprinting, called Live Scan, to run checks through both state and national crime databases. This isn’t a simple name search. It’s a full fingerprint-based check of the Georgia Crime Information Center records and national databases. If someone has a physical disability that genuinely makes fingerprinting impossible, a name-based or Social Security number-based check can be substituted, but only with a waiver from a DFCS Regional Director.

In addition to the criminal check, federal background check guidance confirms that Georgia also checks the state child abuse and neglect registry, as well as the registry of any other state where you’ve lived in the past five years. Plan for this if you’ve moved recently.

What will disqualify you

Some convictions are automatic bars, with no exceptions. Georgia’s criminal records check policy is clear: a felony conviction involving any of the following means DFCS cannot approve you:

• Child abuse or neglect
• Spousal abuse
• A crime against a child, including child pornography
• A crime involving violence, including rape, sexual assault, or homicide

There’s also a five-year lookback rule. A felony conviction for physical assault, battery, or a drug or alcohol related offense within the last five years is also a disqualifying factor.

One thing worth knowing: Georgia’s definition of “criminal record” is broader than just convictions. Under Georgia’s rules and regulations for child-placing agencies, a criminal record includes nolo contendere pleas, first-offender treatment, cases where adjudication was withheld, and charges that are still pending. If any of these apply to you, be upfront with your agency early.

How often checks are renewed

Your fingerprint-based criminal records check doesn’t last forever. Georgia’s criminal records check policy requires that all licensed foster and adoptive parents complete a new fingerprint-based check every five years. If you later decide to pursue adoption after being licensed as a foster parent, you’ll need a fresh check run specifically for that purpose, even if your foster care check is still current.

What to expect from the home study

The home study is called a SAFE home study, which stands for Structured Analysis Family Evaluation. According to Georgia’s initial family evaluation policy, it must be conducted by a certified Home Study Practitioner, who can be a DFCS staff member, a Child Placing Agency staff member, or an approved contractor.

What the caseworker actually looks at

The home study covers a lot of ground, but it’s organized around a simple question: is this a safe, stable place for a child? Georgia’s foster care regulations spell out what the written report must include:

• Your family background, including relationships with extended family, education, and personal history
• Your parenting knowledge, attitudes, and current practices at home
• Your motivation for fostering, including any relevant experiences like infertility or loss
• Your family’s physical and mental health history, including a physical exam completed within the past 12 months
• Your financial stability and employment history
• How you think you’ll handle having a foster child in your home, including how each family member might adjust

In practice, this unfolds over a few conversations. All interviews happen in your home, not at an office.

What they’re really looking for

The caseworker isn’t expecting perfection. They want to see that your home is safe, that you’ve thought honestly about what fostering involves, and that you understand the role. One specific thing they’ll explore, as Georgia’s foster care regulations require, is your attitude toward the birth parents of any child placed with you, including your openness to visits in your home. Foster care requires you to work alongside a child’s family, not in opposition to them.

Your financial picture matters too. They’re not looking for wealth. They’re looking for stability and evidence that adding a child to your household is something you can manage.

How long it takes

Once you’ve submitted all required information, Georgia’s family evaluation policy gives DFCS 30 calendar days to complete the home study and record approval. The final approval authority has three business days within that window to review the study and make a decision. You’ll receive written notification of your approval status within one business day of that decision.

In practice, the timeline depends on how quickly everything comes together on your end, including medical exams, drug screening, CPR certification, and background checks. Getting those pieces in order early keeps things moving.

Pre-service training requirements

Before a child is placed in your home, you’ll need to complete a formal training program.

The NTDC: what it is and why it matters

Georgia uses a curriculum called the National Training and Development Curriculum, or NTDC. According to Georgia’s pre-service training policy, DFCS requires every prospective foster or adoptive parent to complete this program before a child in DFCS custody can be placed with them. The sessions must be led by DFCS-certified NTDC trainers.

Group sessions are the preferred format, though individual sessions are possible with special approval. The entire curriculum must be completed within 10 weeks, and DFCS is required to make training available to you no later than 60 days after you submit your application documents. Classes can be scheduled during the day, in the evenings, or on weekends, so there’s genuine flexibility built in.

Who has to attend

All adult household members age 18 and over who will be involved in parenting a placed child are required to complete pre-service training. That means if your partner, an adult child living at home, or anyone else in the household will have a hands-on parenting role, they need to go through NTDC with you.

What the training covers

The curriculum covers a lot of ground. Topics include:

• Rights, roles, and responsibilities of foster parents
• Child development, attachment, and the effects of separation and loss
• Trauma-related behavior and trauma-informed parenting
• Mental health considerations and the impact of substance abuse
• Cultural humility and parenting in racially and culturally diverse families
• Maintaining children’s connections with siblings, extended family, and their community
• Permanency outcomes and preparing children for transitions
• Parenting a child with sexual trauma
• Kinship parenting and building resilience for kinship caregivers
• Accessing services and supports

A few situations where the rules are different

If you previously had an approved foster home, voluntarily closed it in good standing, and want to reopen it, you don’t have to repeat NTDC as long as you completed it within the last three years.

If you’re moving to Georgia from another state and already have an approved foster or adoptive home through that state, a waiver of pre-service training may be available. This comes up most often with families relocating through the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC). In those cases, Georgia can provisionally approve your home before training is complete, but you’ll need to finish the NTDC curriculum within 120 calendar days to maintain your approval status. If the training you completed in another state wasn’t trauma-informed, you’ll be required to complete specific NTDC modules covering trauma-related behaviors, trauma-informed parenting, mental health considerations, and parenting a child with sexual trauma, regardless of the waiver.

After you’re approved: ongoing training

Pre-service training gets you licensed. Staying licensed requires continued learning. Georgia’s continued parent development policy requires all approved foster caregivers to complete a minimum of 15 hours of Continued Parent Development each calendar year. CPR and First Aid certification is required before initial approval and must stay current throughout your approval period. Those certification hours count toward your annual 15-hour requirement.

Training hours can be completed through in-person sessions, virtual classes, or online programs. Personal growth activities like counseling or support groups can count for up to a few hours per year, but the bulk of your hours need to come from structured training relevant to the children in your care.

Requirements vary by county, so check with your agency for specifics on how training sessions are scheduled and which additional topics your county may require.

License types and renewal in Georgia

Georgia uses different approval categories depending on who you are, what kind of care you’re providing, and where you are in the process. Here’s what those categories actually mean for you.

The main approval categories

Georgia’s child welfare policy organizes foster home approvals into several distinct categories. The type you receive determines which children can be placed with you, and it reflects what DFCS has verified about your household at that point in time.

The categories you’re most likely to encounter are:

• Regular foster home approval. This is the standard approval for families who have completed the full evaluation process. It allows DFCS to place children with you on an ongoing basis.
• Provisional approval. This is a time-limited status given to families who are still completing some part of the process. It lets placements begin before every single requirement is finalized.
• Temporary approval. This is a short-term status used when a child needs to be placed quickly and the full evaluation hasn’t been completed yet. It’s common in kinship situations, where a relative needs to take a child in on short notice.
• Kinship foster home approval. This is a separate track for relatives and other kin caregivers. The evaluation process is similar, but certain non-safety standards can be waived to make it faster and more accessible.

Provisional and temporary approvals: what they mean in practice

If you hear that you’ve been given provisional or temporary approval, that’s not a red flag. It means the system is trying to get children into safe homes without making everyone wait for paperwork. According to Georgia’s initial family evaluation policy, provisional approval is used when a family meets the core safety requirements but still has outstanding items to complete. You’d be expected to finish those items within the timeframe your caseworker gives you.

Temporary approval, especially in kinship cases, works similarly. Georgia’s kinship foster home evaluation policy allows relatives to receive a child quickly while the fuller review is still underway. The goal is to keep children with family whenever possible, and the approval structure reflects that priority.

How annual renewal works

Your approval doesn’t last forever, and that’s intentional. Georgia requires foster families to go through a re-evaluation process to maintain their approved status. Georgia’s family re-evaluation policy outlines what that process involves: your caseworker will review your household, confirm that your living situation and family circumstances haven’t changed in ways that affect your approval, and verify that you’ve completed your required ongoing training hours.

The re-evaluation is also a conversation. It’s a chance to talk about how placements have gone, whether your household capacity still makes sense, and whether you want to adjust the types of children you’re approved to care for.

One practical note: don’t wait for someone to remind you that your renewal is coming up. Keep track of your approval date yourself. Letting it lapse creates complications for any children currently in your home and delays future placements.

Requirements vary by county, so check with your agency for specifics on timelines and what documentation you’ll need to bring to your renewal.

Staying licensed: what’s required after approval

Getting licensed isn’t a finish line. The state expects you to keep demonstrating that your home remains a safe, stable place for children. Here’s what that looks like in practice.

Continuing education after you’re approved

According to Georgia’s continued parent development policy, licensed foster parents are required to complete ongoing training hours each year to maintain their approval. This training is designed to build on what you learned before your first placement, covering things like trauma, child development, and managing challenging behaviors. Your caseworker or agency can tell you how many hours are required in your specific situation and which topics are approved.

Annual reevaluations

Once a year, your approval doesn’t just automatically renew. Georgia’s family re-evaluation policy requires DFCS or your child-placing agency to conduct a formal reevaluation of your household. This looks at whether your home still meets safety and quality standards, whether your family circumstances have changed, and how things have been going with any children in your care. The reevaluation is also a good moment to raise anything that’s been hard or to ask for more support.

Home inspections

Your physical home will be reviewed as part of the reevaluation process. Georgia’s safety and quality standards policy sets out the home environment requirements that apply not just at initial approval but on an ongoing basis. That means the same standards you met to get licensed, things like safe sleeping arrangements, working smoke detectors, and secure storage of medications and firearms, need to stay in place. A home visit is part of how the state verifies that.

Reporting obligations

If something serious happens in your home, you’re required to report it. This includes any incidents involving abuse, neglect, or significant injury to a child in your care. Georgia’s foster parent manual makes clear that foster parents are mandated reporters, which means you have a legal obligation to report suspected abuse or neglect, whether it involves a child in your home or one you know about elsewhere.

Notifying your agency about household changes

Your approval is based on a specific household at a specific point in time. If that changes, you need to tell your agency. The re-evaluation policy reflects the expectation that any significant change in household composition, like a new adult moving in, a marriage, a new baby, or someone moving out, gets reported promptly. New adults in the home will typically need to go through background checks and safety screenings before they can be around children in your care. Don’t wait for your annual reevaluation to flag a change like this. Report it when it happens.

Requirements vary by county, so check with your agency for specifics on timelines and exactly what triggers a required notification in your area.