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Our Mission
In the spirit of God’s love, Catholic Charities West Michigan engages diverse communities in nurturing, stabilizing, and empowering children, families, and adults to achieve their full potential.
What is Foster Care?
Foster care is a system that aims to protect children who have been removed from their home due to abuse or neglect. Child placing agencies like Catholic Charities West Michigan function to assess applicants for adoption and certify foster family homes and foster family group homes. Child placing agencies additionally equip the child’s biological parents with skills and resources to overcome barriers preventing reunification. Foster families serve a vital role in foster care. Foster families provide 24 hour care, protection, and supervision of children in foster care. They also support a child’s service plan created by the private child welfare agencies in collaboration with the court to keep children safe and healthy. Primarily child placement agencies work to support the goal of reunification with a child’s biological parents, however if this goal cannot be achieved other goals such as adoption, guardianship, placement with a fit and willing relative, and another permanent planned living arrangement will be recommended.
Click here to learn more about the need in foster care.
Children in Foster Care
Catholic Charities West Michigan serves children of all ages, races, and ethnicities in need of court ordered out-of-home care on an emergency basis, as well as children who are already in out-of-home-care.
What are Foster Parents’ Responsibilities?
Foster parents are a child’s temporary caregiver until a child can be reunified with their biological parents providing 24 hour care and supervision. Catholic Charities West Michigan expects foster parents to provide a loving, safe, and stable home for children in foster care. Foster parents provide support with a child’s concrete and emotional needs with the assistance of our agency. Foster parents and foster care case specialists collaborate to ensure that all medical and dental appointments are held for each child. Foster parents transport children for all medical and dental appointments, school, parenting time visits, recreational activities, and more. Children in foster care need parents to help them reach their full potential. Foster parents must attend ongoing training classes and participate in monthly visits with foster care case specialists and all visits with licensing specialists to maintain licensure.