How to Become a Foster Parent in West Virginia

According to West Virginia’s foster care policy, the state’s foster care system exists to provide children with stable, nurturing care when their own families can’t keep them safe, and the Bureau for Social Services oversees the whole effort.

The licensing process has real steps: an application, background checks, training, a home study, and a certification review. The sections below walk you through each one.

Who can be a foster parent in West Virginia?

Most people who look into foster care assume the requirements will rule them out. They’re usually wrong. West Virginia’s eligibility criteria are broader than you might expect, and they’re designed to find good caregivers, not to eliminate them.

Age and marital status

You need to be at least 18 years old to foster in West Virginia. That’s it for the age floor. There’s no upper age limit written into the requirements. As for marital status, according to West Virginia’s Home Finding Policy, you can be married, single, divorced, or in any other living arrangement. You don’t need a partner. Single adults foster children in this state every day.

Who lives in your home

Everyone in your household matters during the certification process, but having other children at home doesn’t disqualify you. The policy does set a household capacity limit: a foster family home can care for no more than five children at one time who are unrelated to any adult member of the household, as defined in West Virginia’s residential child care licensing definitions. That count includes any foster children you’re already caring for, so the number of children you can take in depends on who’s already there.

Income and financial stability

You don’t have to be wealthy, but you do have to show that your household is financially stable without depending on foster care payments to get by. West Virginia’s Home Finding Policy requires that prospective resource parents have sufficient income to meet their own family’s needs. The boarding care payment you receive for a foster child is meant to cover that child’s costs, not your household expenses. The state will review your financial situation as part of the home study, but the bar is stability, not affluence.

Physical and mental health

You don’t need to be in perfect health to foster. What the state wants to know is that your health, physical or mental, doesn’t prevent you from providing safe, consistent care for a child. According to West Virginia’s Home Finding Policy, both physical and mental health must be sufficient to meet the demands of caring for a foster child. You’ll need a health examination as part of the process. If you’re managing a chronic condition or have a history of mental health treatment, that doesn’t automatically disqualify you. The question the state is asking is whether you can do the job, not whether your medical history is spotless.

Nondiscrimination

West Virginia doesn’t discriminate in foster care placement or caregiver certification on the basis of race, color, or national origin. According to West Virginia’s Home Finding Policy, the Multiethnic Placement Act prohibits using race, color, or national origin as a basis for denying certification to a prospective foster parent.

Background check requirements in West Virginia

If you’ve ever wondered whether your past could disqualify you from fostering, you’re not alone. That question is one of the first things most people ask, and the honest answer is: it depends on what’s in your history, and the state has a clear process for finding out.

What checks are required

West Virginia requires multiple background checks before you can be licensed as a foster parent. According to West Virginia’s Criminal and Protective Services Background Check Policy, the full package includes:

• A state criminal history check through the West Virginia Crime Identification Bureau (CIB)
• A federal criminal history check through the FBI
• A state sex offender registry check
• A National Crime Information Center (NCIC) check
• A National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR) check
• A protective services record check, which looks at whether you have any history of substantiated child or adult abuse or neglect in DHHR records
• A check of child abuse and neglect registries in any other state where you’ve lived in the past five years

The criminal checks run through a system called WV CARES, which stands for West Virginia Clearance for Access: Registry and Employment Screening. As the WV CARES program page explains, this system uses fingerprinting to search both state and federal criminal history records, which is more thorough than older name-based searches.

Who in your household has to complete them

It’s not just you. West Virginia’s background check requirements apply to all potential foster parents and their adult household members. That means anyone 18 or older living in your home will need to go through the same clearance process. If someone is frequently in your home while children are present but doesn’t live there full-time, talk with your agency about whether they need to be cleared as well.

How the checks are processed

The fingerprint-based checks go through the WV CARES unit, administered by the West Virginia Office of the Inspector General in coordination with the State Police and the FBI. The protective services check is handled separately by the Bureau for Social Services. Both are required before you can be approved.

How often checks must be renewed

Background checks don’t last forever. According to West Virginia’s Criminal and Protective Services Background Check Policy, providers must complete background checks every five years. A protective services check is also required again at the time of recertification.

What can disqualify an applicant

Certain convictions will bar you from fostering. West Virginia’s background check guide for child care providers lists disqualifying offenses that include felony convictions for murder, child abuse or neglect, crimes against children or incapacitated adults, rape, sexual assault, kidnapping, arson, physical assault, or a drug-related offense committed within the past five years. A violent misdemeanor committed as an adult against a child is also disqualifying.

If your background check comes back with something that raises a flag, that’s not necessarily the end of the road. The WV CARES program has a variance review process, and applicants who receive an ineligibility determination have 30 days to submit a variance request. Not every record results in a denial, and the review looks at the full picture of who you are now.

Requirements vary by county, so check with your agency for specifics on how checks are initiated and what additional steps your county or placing agency may require.

What to expect from the home study

You’ve filled out the application, you’ve started your training, and now someone is going to come to your house. That part can feel intimidating. It helps to know what the caseworker is actually there to do, and it’s not to catch you out.

The home study is called a family assessment, and according to West Virginia’s homefinding policy, its purpose is to gather enough information to determine whether your home is a safe and supportive place for a child. The worker isn’t grading your housekeeping or judging your furniture. They’re trying to understand who you are and whether a child placed with you will be cared for.

Who conducts it

A home-finding caseworker from the Department of Human Services, or from a contracted child placing agency, will handle your assessment. They’ll schedule visits with you directly. You’ll meet more than once. This isn’t a single walkthrough and a signature.

What actually happens

The assessment has two main parts: interviews and a home visit. The interviews are conversations. The caseworker will talk with each adult in the household, and may speak with children living in the home as well. They want to understand your background, your motivations, your parenting approach, and how you handle stress. They’ll also contact the references you provided.

The home visit is when the worker walks through your space. According to West Virginia’s home finding policy, they’re looking at the physical environment: whether the home is clean and in good repair, whether sleeping arrangements are appropriate, whether hazards like weapons or medications are stored safely, and whether there’s adequate space for a child. They’ll check that smoke detectors work, that there’s enough food, and that the home has working heat and water. None of this requires a perfect home. It requires a safe one.

Beyond the physical space, the caseworker is assessing things that are harder to see on a checklist. They want to know how you communicate as a family, how you discipline children, how you’d handle a child who has experienced trauma. They’re looking for stability, flexibility, and a genuine understanding of what foster care involves.

References and records

Your references will be contacted as part of the process. The worker is looking for outside perspectives on your character and your relationships, not testimonials.

What comes next

Once the assessment is complete, the worker compiles their findings and the home study moves toward a decision on certification. If something needs to be addressed first, a corrective step, an additional document, or a fix to the home environment, the worker will tell you what it is. Most things that come up at this stage are fixable.

Pre-service training requirements

Before a child ever comes through your door, West Virginia requires you to complete pre-service training. This isn’t a formality. It’s where you start learning what children in care have actually been through, and what you’ll need to know to help them.

The NTDC: what it is and how long it takes

The state uses a curriculum called the National Training and Development Curriculum, or NTDC. According to the WVFACT frequently asked questions, NTDC pre-service training totals 21 hours, broken into seven sessions of three hours each. The curriculum was built with input from researchers, families who have fostered or adopted, and young people who were in foster care themselves. The goal is to give you practical knowledge before you’re responsible for a child.

Where training happens and what it costs

Training is offered both virtually and in person, and it’s free. The West Virginia Foster and Adoptive Care Training program, known as WVFACT, is a partnership among five universities: Concord, Marshall, Shepherd, West Virginia State, and West Virginia University. Together they deliver training statewide and coordinate the schedule. You register directly through WVFACT, either online, by email at wvfact@concord.edu, or by phone at 304-384-5189.

If you attend virtually over Zoom, there are a few things to know going in. Your camera must be on and your face must be visible the whole time. If you log in more than 15 minutes late, you won’t be admitted. If you leave for more than 15 minutes outside of scheduled breaks, you’ll have to repeat the session. Children shouldn’t be in the room, because parts of the training cover material that isn’t appropriate for them to hear.

What the training covers

The NTDC focuses specifically on children who have experienced trauma, separation, or loss. According to the WVFACT FAQ, the training is designed to help you recognize the impact of trauma, spot signs and symptoms of trauma in children, and take steps to avoid re-traumatizing them. It’s grounded in the reality that most children in foster care carry experiences that shape how they behave, how they attach, and how they make sense of the world.

In-service training comes next

Once you’re certified, the training doesn’t stop. In-service training picks up where the NTDC leaves off, and it’s an ongoing certification requirement. These trainings are also free and offered both online and in person. How many hours you need each year to stay certified depends on your agency. Requirements vary by county, so check with your homefinding specialist for specifics.

The in-service sessions are offered as trauma-focused modules, and they have to be taken in order. You can’t skip ahead. That structure is intentional: each session builds on the one before it.

The NTDC pre-service training is required before placement. You can’t skip it or complete it after a child moves in. If you’re working with a private or contracted agency rather than directly with the state, that agency may add orientation steps or requirements of their own on top of the NTDC. Requirements vary by county, so ask your worker early about what your specific agency expects.

License types and renewal in West Virginia

If you’ve made it to this part of the process, you’re probably wondering exactly what kind of approval you’re working toward and what happens once you have it. West Virginia doesn’t issue a single blanket “foster care license” that covers every situation. Instead, the state uses a certification framework with different categories depending on who’s caring for the child and under what circumstances.

The main approval categories

According to West Virginia’s Placement Certification Policy, the state certifies two primary types of caregivers: foster parents and kinship or relative caregivers. These are treated as distinct tracks, though many of the underlying requirements overlap. Foster parents are non-relatives who open their homes to children in state custody. Kinship and relative caregivers are family members or people with an existing relationship to the child, and they go through a separate home study process tailored to that context.

There’s also a category for respite providers. Respite care is short-term, planned relief care, meaning you’d care for a child temporarily so their regular foster or kinship family can take a break. Respite providers have their own set of requirements, which are less extensive than full certification but still involve background checks and a review of your home.

Provisional and temporary approvals

Sometimes a child needs a placement right now, and the full certification process hasn’t finished yet. West Virginia’s policy allows kinship and relative caregivers to receive an expedited approval so a child can be placed with family while the complete home study is still underway. This isn’t a loophole. It’s a deliberate part of the system, designed to keep children connected to people they already know while the paperwork catches up. The state then completes the full assessment process after placement occurs.

How annual renewal works

Being certified isn’t a one-time event. The Placement Certification Policy requires certified kinship, relative, and foster caregivers to go through recertification on an annual basis. That process includes an annual safety review of your home, confirmation that you’ve completed your in-service training hours for the year, and a review of any changes in your household.

If you don’t meet your annual training requirement, your home can be closed for that reason alone. West Virginia’s policy is straightforward on this point: training isn’t optional, and it doesn’t get waived because you’ve been doing this for years.

Department resource homes, meaning homes certified directly through the Bureau for Social Services rather than through a licensed child placing agency, follow the same recertification timeline but may have slightly different administrative steps depending on how their certification is managed. Requirements vary by county, so check with your agency.

If your circumstances change significantly, such as a move to a different county or out of state, your certification status and the steps you need to take will change with it. The policy addresses both in-state moves and out-of-state moves as distinct situations with their own procedures, so don’t assume your certification automatically transfers if you relocate.

Staying licensed: what’s required after approval

Getting licensed isn’t a finish line. It’s more like a starting point, and the state will stay in contact with you on a regular basis to make sure your home is still the right environment for a child. That ongoing relationship has a few concrete pieces you should know about.

Continuing education

Once you’re licensed, you’re expected to keep learning. West Virginia Foster and Adoptive Care Training (WVFACT) provides free in-service training for all certified foster families to help meet ongoing certification requirements. WVFACT is a partnership among five West Virginia universities, funded through the Department of Human Services, and training is available both in person and via Zoom. You can check current schedules and register directly through their website.

Annual reevaluations and home inspections

Your certification doesn’t simply renew itself. According to West Virginia’s homefinding policy, your home goes through a formal evaluation process. That process includes home assessments, which means a worker will visit your home to make sure physical conditions still meet safety standards. The same policy makes clear that licensing is an ongoing process, not a one-time approval.

Requirements vary by county, so check with your agency for specifics on how often evaluations are scheduled and exactly what workers will review during a visit.

Reporting obligations

Fostering a child comes with real legal responsibilities around reporting. West Virginia’s child placing agency rules define an incident as any act or series of acts that violates reasonable expectations of behavior and has the potential to place a child or others at risk. If something like that happens in your home, you’re expected to report it. Your caseworker will walk you through the specific reporting procedures when you’re placed with a child.

Household change notifications

Your home was approved based on specific information: who lives there, the physical layout, your financial situation, your employment. If any of that changes in a significant way, you need to let your agency know. West Virginia’s homefinding policy covers a range of eligibility factors, including health status, financial and economic circumstances, and home safety and environment. A new adult moving into the home, a major job change, or a renovation that affects the sleeping or bathroom arrangements are all the kinds of things your worker needs to hear about. Don’t wait for your next scheduled visit to mention it.

The underlying principle across all of these requirements is simple: the state approved your home for a specific reason, and they want to know if anything material has changed. Most of the time, these check-ins are routine and uneventful. But staying on top of them, and reaching out to your worker proactively when something shifts, keeps your license in good standing and keeps the focus where it belongs, on the child in your care.