Hillside Strong: Foster Parenting
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 can’t 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 youth ages 3 to 21 and help them learn important life skills. Full- and part-time foster parenting options are available. Start your journey today!
Therapeutic Foster Parents
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.
Respite Foster Parents
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.
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
Do I have a genuine love for children?
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.
How old do I have to be, to become a foster parent?
State law requires foster parents be 21 years of age or older.
Is there room in my heart and my home?
If you have a loving home, and a bed a child can call their own, you’re well on your way.
Do I enjoy helping children build on their strengths and develop important life skills?
All children have unique strengths that you, as their foster parent, can help uncover and use to set them on the path to success.
Am I willing to participate in free training 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.
Am I willing to provide short-term respite care?
Respite care provides stability for a youth for 3-5 days. At the end of respite, they return to their caregiver. Based on your availability, you can provide respite for several youths throughout the month.
Click the link above to provide basic background information and begin your journey as a foster parent!
A Hillside team member will get back to you quickly.
Click the link above if you’re interested in Respite. When filling out the contact form, select “Respite Inquiry” as your subject. You’ll be contacted by a Hillside team member who can help you get started.
Click the link above to send us an email with any questions you may have about becoming a foster parent, short-term respite, and anything else.
Buffalo Metro and Erie County
70 Jewett Parkway
Buffalo NY 14214
585-256-7500
Genesee and Orleans Counties
50 Batavia City Center
Batavia NY 14020
585-256-7500
Niagara County
66 Stevens Street
Lockport, NY 14094
585-256-7500
Schuyler and Steuben Counties
24 Liberty Street
Bath NY 14810
585-256-7500
Wyoming County
96 West Buffalo Street
Warsaw NY 14569
585-256-7500
Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, and Allegany Counties
36 Water Street
Cuba NY 14727
585-256-7500
Livingston County
24 Main Street
Mt. Morris NY 14510
585-256-7500
Livingston County
24 Main Street
Mt. Morris NY 14510
585-256-7500
Greater Rochester
(Monroe, Ontario, Wayne, Seneca, and Yates counties)
1 Mustard Street
Rochester NY 14609
585-256-7500
Greater Syracuse
(Cayuga, Chemung, Cortland, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, and Tompkins counties)
215 Wyoming Street
Syracuse NY 13204
585-256-7500