How to Become a Foster Parent in Maryland

Right now, there are approximately 3,800 children and teens in Maryland’s foster care system, and most of them need something simpler than it sounds: a stable home while their family works toward being able to take them back. They range from infants to young adults, they’ve experienced real loss, and the families who show up for them are called resource parents. Not foster parents. Resource parents, because that’s what Maryland calls the people who provide care, and because the word captures something true about the role: you’re a resource for the child, for the birth family, and for the team working toward reunification.

Getting licensed involves background checks, training, a home study, and some paperwork. None of it is fast, but all of it is doable. Here’s what you need to know.

Who can be a foster parent in Maryland?

Most people who look into fostering assume they won’t qualify. Too old, too young, renting instead of owning, single, not making enough money. The reality is that Maryland’s requirements are much broader than the rumor mill suggests. If you’re a stable adult who can meet a child’s basic needs, there’s a good chance the door is open for you.

Age and citizenship

You need to be at least 21 years old. That’s the floor, and there’s no ceiling. According to Maryland foster care regulations, any applicant, whether single or part of a couple, must also be a U.S. citizen or a non-citizen lawfully admitted for permanent residence.

Marital status and household composition

You don’t have to be married. You don’t have to have a partner at all. Single adults can and do become licensed foster parents in Maryland. If you’re part of a couple living together, both of you will need to meet the requirements and both will go through the process together. The regulations don’t require marriage, just that each person in the household meets the standards.

Income

Maryland doesn’t set a specific dollar amount you have to earn. What the state looks at is stability. Maryland’s resource parent home standards policy puts it plainly: you need to have sufficient income and financial stability to provide reasonable living conditions for your own family without depending on the foster care reimbursement to cover your basic expenses. In other words, the reimbursement you receive for fostering is meant to help support the child, not to keep your household afloat. If you can pay your bills before a child arrives, you’re in the right ballpark.

Physical and mental health

The standard isn’t that you’re in perfect health. It’s that your health, physical and mental, doesn’t prevent you from caring for a child. All applicants need a recent physical exam, conducted within the prior 12 months, from a licensed health care professional. All household members need to disclose their physical and mental health history, including any history of drug or alcohol treatment.

If someone in your household has a health condition, the agency may ask for additional documentation. A licensed provider would need to confirm in writing that the condition isn’t likely to interfere with caring for a child and isn’t communicable or harmful.

One practical note: if you plan to care for infants, you and any household member over 18 will need to show proof of an up-to-date pertussis vaccination.

What can disqualify you

Certain criminal history is an absolute bar. No one with a felony conviction for child abuse or neglect, spousal abuse, crimes against children, violent crimes including rape or homicide, or human trafficking can be licensed. A felony conviction within the prior five years for physical assault, battery, or a drug-related offense is also disqualifying. COMAR regulations on resource parent requirements lay out these bars clearly. Other criminal history is reviewed case by case, with the agency weighing whether it affects a child’s safety.

A current or past finding of child abuse or neglect on your record is also grounds for denial, though in limited circumstances a local director can grant a written exception.

Background check requirements in Maryland

Before a child ever sets foot in your home, Maryland wants to know who lives there. Every adult in your household will go through multiple checks, and understanding what’s involved up front will save you from surprises later.

Who has to complete the checks

According to Maryland’s resource parent regulations, the requirements apply to you as the applicant and to every household member who is 18 years old or older. That includes a spouse or partner, an adult child living at home, or any other adult who shares your residence. If someone new moves into your household after you’re licensed, they’ll need to complete the same clearances before the home can continue operating.

What the checks actually cover

The state reviews a lot of ground. For every adult in your home, your local department will look at:

• State and federal fingerprint-based criminal background clearances
• Child protective services records
• Motor Vehicle Administration driving records
• Maryland Judiciary Case Search
• Maryland and National Sex Offender registries

If you or any adult in your household has lived in another state within the past five years, the department will also request child abuse and neglect registry information from those states. This out-of-state CPS check is not optional, and it covers anywhere you’ve lived in that five-year window.

What will disqualify an applicant

Some convictions are automatic disqualifiers with no exceptions. Maryland foster care regulations are clear: a license cannot be issued if you or any adult household member has a felony conviction for child abuse or neglect, spousal abuse, a crime against a child (including child pornography), a violent crime such as rape, sexual assault, or homicide, or human trafficking. These bars are permanent.

A second category of felony convictions will disqualify an applicant if the conviction occurred within the past five years. Those are physical assault, battery, and drug-related offenses. After five years, the department still reviews these, but the bar is not automatic.

Beyond convictions, any pending CPS investigation will pause your application. The department can’t issue a license until that investigation is resolved. And if you or any adult in your home has ever been indicated for child abuse or neglect in Maryland or any other state, the department can’t license your home unless a local director grants a written exception, a step taken only when it’s clearly in a child’s best interest.

For other criminal history that doesn’t fall into those categories, the department reviews the charges and makes a judgment call, weighing the potential effect on a child’s safety and your ability to fulfill the responsibilities of a foster parent.

Costs and renewals

According to the Resource Parent Home Standards policy, the clearances required are outlined but fees and renewal timelines are not specified. Requirements vary by county, so check with your agency for specifics on what you’ll pay and how often checks need to be refreshed.

What to expect from the home study

If the application is the paperwork phase, the home study is where the process starts to feel real. A caseworker will come to your home, talk with you at length, and get a sense of who you are, how you live, and what you can offer a child. It’s designed to find out whether your home is a good fit, and to help you figure that out too.

Who conducts the study and what model they use

Maryland uses a structured approach called the SAFE model (Structured Analysis Family Evaluation). According to the Maryland resource parent home standards policy, the state has used SAFE as its chosen home study model since 2009. The caseworker assigned to your home study is from your Local Department of Social Services (LDSS), and they’re trained to use this model consistently across every prospective resource family in Maryland.

The SAFE process does two things at once. It gives the department a structured way to assess your potential as a resource parent. It also gives you a structured way to assess yourself. That second part matters. Some people start the home study and realize they’re not ready yet, or that they want to do things differently. That’s a legitimate outcome too.

What the caseworker is looking at

The caseworker isn’t grading your paint or measuring your square footage for its own sake. They’re looking at whether your home can safely hold a child. The home standards policy breaks the assessment into several areas:

• Family characteristics and dynamics: your household’s stability, your ability to communicate with a child and with agency staff, and whether at least one applicant has functional literacy
• Financial stability: not wealth, but whether you can cover your own household costs without depending on foster care reimbursement
• Physical and mental health: all applicants need a recent physical exam (within the past 12 months), and all household members will be asked about their health history, including any history of substance use or mental health treatment

For the home itself, Maryland’s resource home requirements direct the caseworker to assess health and safety, fire safety, and specific physical conditions. They’ll check for working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, confirm that any firearms are unloaded and locked, and look at where a child would sleep. Children have to have their own sleeping space, with real privacy, and kids over two years old can’t share a bedroom with an adult unless the department specifically approves it.

Most homes meet these standards already. Where something needs adjustment, families are usually told what to fix and given time to fix it before a final decision is made.

Requirements vary by county, so check with your agency for specifics on timelines and any additional documentation your local department may require.

The conversations you’ll have

The caseworker will interview you, and likely every adult in your household, sometimes together and sometimes separately. You’ll talk about your childhood, your parenting philosophy, your relationships, and why you want to open your home to a child. According to Maryland’s Resource Parent Handbook, resource parenting requires you to provide “safe, supportive, short term care, in a nurturing family setting,” and the home study conversation is really about whether that’s something you can genuinely provide.

Caseworkers aren’t looking for perfect people. They’re looking for self-aware people who understand what this commitment involves.

Pre-service training requirements

Before a child ever crosses your threshold, you’ll need to complete training. It’s the part of the process where you start to understand what children in care have been through, and where you figure out whether you’re ready for what comes next.

What state regulations require

Maryland sets a minimum training floor depending on what type of resource parent you’re becoming. For treatment foster parents, the specific number is clear: Maryland’s treatment foster care regulations require at least 24 hours of pre-service training before approval and before any child is placed in the home. That’s the floor the state sets for that program, and your local agency will walk you through how to meet it.

The topics covered in that pre-service training are spelled out in regulation and they’re worth knowing in advance, because they’re not abstract. According to Maryland’s treatment foster care regulations, training covers:

• The history of foster care and how the role of foster parents has evolved
• What foster care is and how it relates to permanency planning
• Why teamwork matters in permanency planning
• The needs and rights of children in foster care
• The needs, rights, and responsibilities of birth parents
• The complementary roles of foster parents and caseworkers
• The grieving process and how separation affects children
• How to help children work through the feelings and behaviors that come from being separated from their biological parents
• Building an accepting attitude toward the birth parent-child relationship
• Substance abuse issues
• Health and safety practices, including universal precautions

The Center for Excellence and expanded preparation

Maryland has invested seriously in how resource parents are prepared. The Center for Excellence in Resource Family Development is a federally funded program, the only one of its kind awarded in the country, focused specifically on improving how resource families are recruited, trained, and supported. Resource parents who participate in CfE programming receive additional training targeted to the specific needs of children placed in their home, participate in peer learning groups, and get support building relationships with birth families. It’s an enhanced model on top of the baseline, not a replacement for it.

What your agency may add

The baseline training requirements come from state regulation, but the agency or local department you work with will likely have additional expectations. Some agencies bring you through their own orientation curriculum. Some counties layer in topics specific to their local programs or the populations they serve. Requirements vary by county, so check with your agency for specifics.

As the Maryland Resource Parent Handbook makes clear, pre-service training is part of a larger structure of ongoing support and in-service requirements that continue after you’re licensed. The training before placement is a beginning, not a box you check and forget.

License types and renewal in Maryland

Maryland uses “resource parent” as the official term for licensed foster caregivers, and it reflects something real: you’re a resource to the child, to the birth family, and to the whole team working toward reunification.

What kind of approval are you getting?

Maryland licenses resource parents through the local Department of Social Services in the county where you live. According to Maryland’s resource parent regulations, you apply at your local department, and that same department has 120 days from the date it accepts your application to approve or deny you. That’s roughly four months from start to finish, though the timeline can vary.

You can apply as an individual or as a couple. If you’re applying as a couple, both of you must meet every requirement in the chapter. That includes background clearances, medical exams, training, and everything else.

Resource home approval versus treatment foster care

Standard resource home approval covers most foster placements, including children of various ages and needs. Treatment foster care is a separate category, designed for children with more intensive behavioral or therapeutic needs. Maryland’s treatment foster parent regulations set additional requirements for that designation, including specialized training beyond what standard resource parents complete.

If you’re just starting out, you’ll almost certainly begin as a standard resource home. Treatment foster care is something some families move into later, after they’ve built experience and completed additional preparation.

Kinship providers and how they fit in

Not everyone coming through the licensing process is a stranger to the child. Maryland’s foster care program distinguishes between resource parents, who are not previously known to the child, and kinship providers, who are related by blood, marriage, or adoption, or who have an established bond with the child or the child’s family. Kinship providers may be 18 or older, while standard resource parents must be at least 21.

Both paths lead to an approved home, but the process and placement dynamics can differ. If you’re a relative or close family friend, talk with your local department early about which track applies to you.

How renewal works

Your approval isn’t permanent. Maryland resource home regulations allow the local department to deny, suspend, or revoke a license if circumstances change, including changes in household members, new criminal history, or unresolved child protective services findings. In practice, renewal happens on a regular cycle and typically involves updated clearances, a review of your home, and confirmation that you’ve met any ongoing training requirements.

The local department can also revisit your license at any point if someone new moves into your home. That person has to meet the same requirements you did, including preservice training.

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

Staying licensed: what’s required after approval

Getting licensed isn’t a one-time event. Here’s what staying licensed looks like in practice.

Continuing education after approval

You completed training to get licensed, but the learning doesn’t stop there. According to the Maryland Resource Parent Handbook, ongoing in-service training is a standing requirement for resource parents, not just something that applies during the approval process. This training is how the state makes sure you’re staying current on child welfare practices, policy changes, and the specific needs of children in your home.

If you participate in the Center for Excellence in Resource Family Development, you’ll have access to additional training targeted at the real situations resource families face, including support for building relationships with children’s birth families.

Requirements vary by county, so check with your agency for specifics on how many hours are required annually and how to document them.

Annual renewals and home inspections

Your license doesn’t stay active automatically. Maryland requires an annual renewal process, and your home will be reviewed as part of that. The foster parent home study regulations make clear that an application and home study, when properly updated through the annual renewal, stays current and valid, which means your agency will be checking in regularly to confirm your home still meets standards. The annual review process is also when your agency will want to know about any changes in your household since the last approval.

Reporting obligations

Once children are placed with you, you take on real reporting responsibilities. The Maryland Resource Parent Handbook is direct about this: resource parents are expected to communicate regularly with their caseworker, document significant events in a child’s life, and report emergencies promptly. The handbook recommends keeping a daily log or journal, which becomes genuinely useful if a question ever comes up about a child’s care or behavior.

You’re also a mandatory reporter. If you observe or suspect abuse or neglect involving a child in your home or anywhere else, you’re required to report it.

Letting your agency know when things change at home

Your household looked a certain way when you were approved. If it changes, your agency needs to know. The Maryland Resource Parent Handbook lists changes in the resource home as a specific communication obligation, meaning you can’t simply wait until your annual renewal to mention that a new adult has moved in, that your income situation has shifted significantly, or that a health issue has come up in the family.

This matters because your approval is tied to your household as it was assessed. A new adult resident, for example, will likely need to go through background clearances before the change is formally accepted. Staying ahead of these conversations protects you and the children in your care.