Get licensed as a foster or kinship parent

What you produce: a shortlist of your state's child welfare office and the licensed foster agencies in your county — with phone numbers, intake emails, and a note on which ones take kinship placements. The trap: every state organizes licensing differently — some license directly, others delegate to county departments, and private agencies change names and contracts — so a casual web search is not enough.

• Open FosterUSKids, pick your state, and note the state child welfare agency's name and its licensing phone number.
• On the state agency's own website, open the “become a foster parent” page and find the county office list; record your county's intake number and address.
• Ask the state agency for the names of licensed private foster family agencies operating in your county — only a state-licensed agency can run your home study.
• Call or check each agency's website and ask: “Do you place children with kinship caregivers?” and “When does your next pre-service training start?”
• Write the shortlist as a table: agency, phone, intake email, kinship yes/no, next training date.