How to Become a Foster Parent in Tennessee

Right now, there are children in Tennessee who need a safe place to sleep tonight. The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services oversees the foster care program, and the foster parents who make it work are ordinary people who decided to open their homes. As the Foster Parent Handbook puts it, they come from every background, motivated by everything from faith to family to a simple desire to help. What they share is a willingness to show up for a child who needs exactly that.

Getting licensed involves real steps: an application, background checks on all adult household members, pre-service training, and a home study. None of it is designed to be intimidating, but there’s no pretending it’s quick. The sections that follow walk you through each part of the process so you know what’s coming and what to do next.

Who can be a foster parent in Tennessee?

Most people who look into this assume the bar will be higher than it is. You don’t have to be married. You don’t have to own your home. You don’t have to be wealthy. Tennessee’s requirements are genuinely broader than most people expect, and the state actively recruits people across a wide range of households and life situations.

Here’s what the requirements actually look like.

Age

According to Tennessee’s foster home selection and approval policy, the general minimum age is 21. If you’re applying specifically to foster a sibling or other blood relative, the minimum drops to 18. Some contract agencies that run therapeutic foster homes set their own minimum at 25, so if that’s the type of placement you’re interested in, check with the specific agency.

Marital status and household composition

You can be single, married, divorced, or partnered. The policy doesn’t require any particular household structure. What it does require is that all adult members of your household pass a criminal background check, and that any adult who plays a caregiving role, meaning someone who handles childcare, transportation, discipline, or other day-to-day support for a child, meets the same training and background check requirements as you do as the primary applicant.

Residency and citizenship

You’ll need to have lived in Tennessee for at least three consecutive months before you’re approved. You also need to be either a U.S. citizen or a Legal Permanent Resident approved by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Income

Tennessee doesn’t set a specific income threshold, but you do need to demonstrate that your household can meet its own needs before a foster child is placed with you. Tennessee’s foster home selection and approval policy puts it this way: you must provide documentation of sufficient income or resources to meet household needs prior to any foster placement. That’s a practical standard, not a dollar figure. The idea is that a foster child shouldn’t be placed into a household that’s already financially strained.

If you live in government housing, you’ll need written confirmation from your Housing Authority that fostering won’t affect your eligibility for that housing.

Physical and mental health

The policy doesn’t specify a particular health standard in terms of diagnoses or conditions. What it looks at is functional capacity: can you care for a child, communicate effectively with the department, and meet a child’s needs? At least one applicant in the home needs functional literacy, enough to do things like read medication labels.

A few practical household requirements

These aren’t about who you are so much as how your home is set up:

• Your home must be in reasonable repair by community standards.
• All pets must be current on rabies vaccinations.
• No one may smoke, vape, or use e-cigarettes inside the home or in a vehicle while transporting a foster child.
• If you want to foster children under 18 months or children with significant medical needs, all household members will need up-to-date pertussis and flu vaccines.

One more thing worth knowing

Tennessee explicitly states that applicants are eligible regardless of gender, race, color, or national origin. The state’s foster home approval policy makes that clear. The process is described as a mutual selection, meaning the agency is assessing fit, not gatekeeping based on who you are.

Background check requirements in Tennessee

Before a child ever spends a night in your home, Tennessee wants to know who lives there. That means background checks, and not just for you. Every adult in the household goes through this process.

Who has to be checked

According to Tennessee’s foster home selection and approval policy, all adult household members must pass a criminal background check. The policy goes further: any adult who takes on a parenting or caretaking role, meaning someone who helps with childcare, transportation, discipline, or general support for a foster child, must meet the same criminal history requirements as the applicant themselves. So if your partner, a parent, or an adult sibling lives with you and plans to be involved with any child in your care, they’re included.

What checks are required

The background check process has five components. Tennessee’s kinship and foster home approval procedures lay them out clearly:

• A local criminal records check from local law enforcement or a county court, covering every jurisdiction where the applicant has lived in the past six months
• A statewide name-based criminal history check through the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI)
• A fingerprint-based criminal history check
• A Child Protective Services (CPS) history check through DCS
• A check of any applicable out-of-state registries if the applicant has lived in another state in the last five years

That last one matters if you’ve moved to Tennessee recently. Each state handles its out-of-state registry requests differently, and some require original forms, witness signatures, or notarization.

CPS history check

The Child Protective Services history check is separate from the criminal check. It looks at whether you or anyone in your household has a prior substantiated finding of abuse or neglect in Tennessee or another state. If you’ve lived in other states, those registries get checked too.

What can disqualify you

A prior criminal history doesn’t automatically end your application, but certain offenses do. Tennessee’s background check guidance identifies categories of disqualifying offenses, including:

• Physical, sexual, or emotional abuse or neglect of a child
• Crimes of violence
• Drug-related offenses
• Any offense that presents a threat to the health, safety, or welfare of children

Specific examples include aggravated assault, domestic assault, stalking, robbery, arson, indecent exposure, and weapons offenses. If you have something in your past and you’re not sure how it affects your eligibility, ask your caseworker directly before investing months in the process.

Costs

If your fingerprinting is done through the Tennessee Department of Human Services, there’s no cost to you. According to Tennessee’s out-of-state registry check instructions, the state covers all fees for TN DHS fingerprinting and all out-of-state background checks that require a fee.

How often checks are renewed

Foster home selection and approval policy requires that fingerprint results be no more than six months old at the time of placement approval. If results on file are older than that, the fingerprinting must be repeated. Requirements vary by county, so check with your agency for specifics on renewal timelines during your active licensure period.

What to expect from the home study

At some point in this process, a caseworker will come to your home, sit down with you, and have a real conversation. That’s the home study. It’s a structured way for the Department of Children’s Services to understand who you are, how you live, and whether your home is a safe and stable place for a child.

What the caseworker is actually looking for

The goal of the home study is mutual. DCS wants to make sure you’re a good fit for the children who need care. According to Tennessee’s foster home selection and approval policy, approval is described as a mutual selection process, based on your ability to meet specific requirements, match regional placement needs, and support the department’s standards of professional practice. You’re also figuring out whether this is right for you.

The caseworker will be looking at both you and your home. On the home side, they’ll check that the physical space is in reasonable repair and meets community standards. On the personal side, they want to understand your household, your relationships, your support system, and your capacity to care for a child who has likely experienced trauma.

Expect the caseworker to ask about:

• Your reasons for wanting to foster
• Your parenting experience and approach to discipline
• Your household routines and support network
• Your ability to work with birth families and the DCS team
• How you’d handle the emotional demands of foster care

Who conducts it and what form it takes

The home study is completed by a DCS caseworker or a worker from a contracted agency, depending on how you’re pursuing licensure. For kinship and relative placements, Tennessee’s kinship foster home approval policy specifies that staff complete a formal relative/kinship home study using a standardized form, assessing the family, home, and property together. The process for non-relative applicants follows the same general structure.

The study involves both interviews and a walkthrough of your home. You don’t need to have a showroom. You need a safe, functional space where a child can sleep, eat, and feel at home.

What to do before the visit

Before the caseworker comes, make sure your home is clean and organized, that any safety concerns are addressed, and that you’ve thought through the basics: where a child would sleep, what routines look like in your household, and who else is part of your daily life.

How long it takes

The timeline depends on how quickly background checks clear, how soon all adult household members can be interviewed, and whether there are any follow-up items from the visit. What the policy makes clear is that approval isn’t issued until all required checks and assessments are complete.

Respond to requests quickly, gather your documents early, and stay in close contact with your caseworker.

Pre-service training requirements

Before a child is ever placed in your home, Tennessee requires you to complete a structured pre-service training program called TN KEY. Think of it as your orientation to the whole system, and also to the children who’ll be coming through your door.

What TN KEY covers

TN KEY consists of nine modules. According to Tennessee’s foster parent training page for providers, those modules are:

• Informational Meeting
• Navigating the Child Welfare System
• Exploring the Impact of Trauma
• Roadmap to Resilience
• Rerouting Trauma Behaviors
• Medical Resources and Information
• CPR and First Aid
• MAP Meeting
• Roadwork

That list tells you something important: this training isn’t just paperwork review. You’ll spend real time on trauma, on what it means for a child’s behavior, and on how to actually support a kid who’s had a hard life. The CPR and First Aid module means you’ll also walk away with a concrete skill, not just knowledge.

Who delivers the training

TN KEY can only be delivered by trainers who have been certified by DCS’s Office of Training and Professional Development. You can’t just watch videos on your own and call it done. You’ll register through your agency or directly with DCS for an upcoming session. DCS also offers live virtual deliveries, so distance isn’t necessarily a barrier.

When you have to finish it

Completion of TN KEY is required before your foster home can be approved. That means before any child is placed with you. There’s no shortcut around it, and no provisional placement while you finish up.

What other adults in your home need to do

Any other adult in your household who takes on a caretaking role, meaning someone who provides childcare, transportation, discipline, or other support to foster children, must meet the same training requirements as the primary applicant. The DCS policy on required foster parent in-service training is clear on this: completing TN KEY makes those additional household members subject to the same ongoing training requirements as well.

Kinship families

If you’re a relative or kin caregiver and you want to eventually foster traditionally, you’ll need to complete TN KEY just like any other applicant. There’s no separate or shorter path through pre-service training for kinship foster parents who want full approval.

After you’re approved

Pre-service training is just the beginning. Once you’re licensed, non-therapeutic foster parents must complete 8 hours of continuing education annually, while therapeutic foster parents must complete 14 hours, with 6 of those hours meeting therapeutic training requirements. Your first year post-approval also has specific required courses, including Creating Normalcy through Prudent Parenting, a trafficking awareness course, and at least one trauma-focused course, as outlined in the DCS foster parent training course catalog. All annual training requirements must be completed by June 30th of each year.

Requirements vary by county. Check with your agency for specifics, particularly around training schedules, how TN KEY sessions are offered in your area, and any additional requirements your contract agency may layer on top of what DCS mandates.

License types and renewal in Tennessee

You’ve probably wondered whether there’s one kind of foster license or several. There are a few different approval categories in Tennessee, and which one applies to you depends on how you’re coming into the system and what kind of care you’ll be providing.

Standard foster home approval

Most people who go through the full application process with the Department of Children’s Services will receive a standard foster home approval. This is the approval that comes after you’ve completed all required steps: your home study, background checks, training, and a review of your application. Tennessee’s standards for child-placing agencies define a license as a yearly permit issued to an agency or home giving care to children, based on meeting required standards developed and published by the Department. That “yearly” piece matters, and we’ll come back to it.

Provisional approval for new applicants

If you’re just starting out, you don’t have to have everything perfect before you can be approved. When a child-placing agency applies for its initial license, the Department issues a conditional license valid for 90 days from the date of issuance, provided the home or facility doesn’t present any apparent hazards to children in care. At the end of that 90-day period, if the applicant has shown that their home is suitable and properly managed, the Department issues a full license valid for one year. The same framework applies at the foster home level through the agencies that supervise placements.

Kinship and relative home approval

If you’re a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or close family friend and a child is being placed with you in an emergency, the process looks a little different. Tennessee’s kinship foster home approval policy describes an expedited pathway for relative and kinship placements, where a child can be placed in your home while the full approval process is still underway. Background checks begin immediately, including a name-based check that can return results quickly. Fingerprint-based checks follow. The goal is to keep children connected to people they already know while ensuring safety checks are completed as fast as possible.

Temporary approvals

When a placement needs to happen fast, before full clearances are back, DCS can use an expedited name-based criminal history check, sometimes called a Code X, to make an initial placement. This is only used when the urgency of the situation makes it impossible to wait for fingerprint results. It’s a short-term measure, not a permanent approval status, and full clearances are still required before the home moves to standard approved status.

How annual renewal works

Your approval doesn’t last forever, but renewing it isn’t starting over. Tennessee regulations define a foster care license as a yearly permit, which means every approved foster home goes through a renewal process each year. That renewal is the Department’s opportunity to confirm that your household still meets current standards, that your training hours are up to date, and that nothing has changed in your home that would affect your ability to care for children safely. If your license is ever in jeopardy, you have the right to notice and a hearing before any revocation takes effect. The Department is required to give 90 days’ notice before revoking a license, and you can request a review before that period expires.

One practical note: the renewal timeline and specific steps can vary depending on whether you’re approved through DCS directly or through a private child-placing agency. Requirements vary by county, so check with your agency for specifics on what your renewal looks like year to year.

Staying licensed: what’s required after approval

Getting licensed isn’t the finish line. It’s the beginning of an ongoing relationship with DCS, and there are real expectations that come with it.

Continuing education: the annual training requirement

Every year you’re a licensed foster parent, you’re required to complete a minimum number of in-service training hours. According to Tennessee’s foster parent in-service training policy, all foster parents must finish their annual training requirements by June 30th of each year. If you were approved between January 1st and June 30th, you get until the following year to complete them, which gives newer families a reasonable runway.

The training isn’t just a box to check. At least one trauma-focused course is required every year. And if a child with specific needs is placed in your home, additional courses kick in on their own timelines:

• Foster parents caring for a child with diabetes must complete the relevant online course within 24 hours of placement.
• Foster parents caring for pregnant or parenting youth must complete the corresponding course within 30 days of placement.
• Foster parents caring for youth on the autism spectrum or with an intellectual developmental disability must complete an appropriate course within 90 days of placement.
• Foster parents caring for youth with special health care needs must complete the relevant course within 90 days of placement.
• Foster parents caring for youth adjudicated delinquent must complete one course before placement and another within 90 days.

Other adults in your home who completed TN KEY during the approval process are also required to keep up with annual in-service training.

If you don’t meet the annual training requirements, your agency won’t simply look the other way. DCS staff will meet with you to address the gap and develop a performance improvement plan within 30 days. If you still don’t make progress, your home can be placed on suspended admissions for up to 60 days. Continued non-compliance puts your license at greater risk.

Home inspections and reevaluations

Your home doesn’t stop being reviewed once you’re approved. Tennessee’s foster care licensing rules give DCS the authority to inspect licensed homes at regular intervals without previous notice. Someone may show up unannounced. Keep your home in the same condition you’d want it to be in for any visit.

Licenses are issued on an annual basis, which means your home goes through a renewal process each year. Staying current on your training, maintaining your home to standard, and keeping a good working relationship with your caseworker are the things that make renewal straightforward.

Household changes and reporting obligations

Your license is tied to your household as it was approved. If something significant changes, you’re expected to report it. New adults moving into the home, changes in your employment, or changes in the health or circumstances of any household member are the kinds of things your agency needs to know about promptly. A new adult in the home will need to go through background check and clearance requirements before your home can remain active.

Foster parents are also mandatory reporters under Tennessee law. If you have reason to suspect abuse or neglect of any child, including a child in your own home, you’re legally required to report it. That obligation doesn’t pause because the child is in foster care.

Requirements vary by county — check with your agency for specifics on how household change notifications are handled and what timelines apply in your region.