Hillside Strong: Become a Foster Parent
Make a Difference in the Life of a Child—
for a Night, a Week, or a Lifetime
Hundreds of youth in your community need help. They’re unable to live at home because of a variety of family challenges. Like all children, they need a stable and supportive environment to help them succeed.
As a Hillside foster parent, you’ll make that difference. Our foster parents provide a loving environment for children from newborn to 21 years, and help them learn important life skills. Full- and part-time foster parenting options are available. You can learn more below—including hearing from other families who have found joy and fulfillment by opening their homes to young people in need of support.
Stories of Hillside: Foster Families Make a Difference Every Day
Join Our Family!
Becoming a Hillside foster parent doesn’t just provide a loving home for a child in need. It gives you the support of being part of the Hillside family.
Our foster parents receive:
- Extensive free training that prepares you for this important work
- Helpful guidance through the New York State certification process
- A generous daily stipend to meet the needs of the child in your care
- 24/7 on-call support from trained Hillside staff—you’re never alone
Foster Parenting FAQs
What is Therapeutic Foster Care?
Hillside’s Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC) services provide a safe and therapeutic family environment for youth who are placed in foster care through the family court system and require a high level of support. The goal of TFC is to reunify youth with their families or, in the case of children who are free for adoption, to connect them with an adoptive family. Hillside’s TFC staff also train and certify kinship caregivers as foster parents to provide supports to the youth and their biological family and improve permanency outcomes.
What is Respite Foster Care?
As a Respite Foster Parent, you’ll provide an alternate setting for youth in need of short-term care and stability due to any number of temporary family crises that could affect their ability to remain healthy and safe. Depending on your location, you may be a great fit for Hillside’s Emergency Respite Bed or HCBS Planned or Crisis Respite services.
What do I need to become a foster parent?
Great foster parents care deeply for children and have a great deal of empathy that helps get them through the ups and downs of parenting. If you have a loving home, and a bed a child can call their own, you’re well on your way.
Is there an age requirement to become a foster parent? Do I need to be married?
New York State law requires foster parents be 21 years of age or older, but there is no maximum age limit. Married and unmarried individuals are equally welcome as foster parents.
What kind of training will I receive to prepare me for foster parenting?
A free 10-session training program will help you be ready for the joys and challenges that are part of being a foster parent. After you successfully complete your training, you’ll receive additional ongoing support from Hillside staff, who are always available to provide advice, connect you to useful resources and answer questions.
Where are you located? Do I need to live in a specific area to become a Hillside foster parent?
Hillside foster parents live throughout Western and Central New York, including the Finger Lakes and the Southern Tier regions. For a complete list of Hillside offices where Foster Care teams operate, click here.