Becoming a resource parent is one of the most purposeful and rewarding choices you can make in your life. Bright Horizons Foster Family Agency seeks stable, responsible and responsive resource parents to meet the needs of some of foster children. Becoming a partner with Bright Horizons Foster Family Agency to bring traumatized children the care, love and support they need makes a huge difference in the lives of the children we serve and in our communities. In addition, it will transform your life!
Who Can Become A Bright Horizons Foster Family Agency Resource Parent?
Bright Horizons Foster Family Agency welcomes individuals who:
• Are at least 21 years old.
• Are single or married.
• Have a pre-existing, sustainable income.
• Are renters or homeowners with enough room for at least one foster youth.
• Are able to pass a health screening and rigorous criminal background check.
• Are not currently certified as a resource parent or relative care giver with another agency or county.
What Benefits will Resource Parents Receive?
Bright Horizons Foster Family Agency provides excellent support and compensation to resource parents. You are not alone in caring for Bright Horizons Foster Family Agency foster children. Bright Horizons Foster Family Agency offers whatever it takes to help you create stability and healing for foster youth. Some of the benefits we offer include:
• Weekly home visits from social workers.
• Generous tax-free monthly stipend
• 24/7 on-call crisis support from Bright Horizons Foster Family Agency experts
• Monthly foster parent support meetings for resource parents and their foster children
• Ongoing, free training and skills development
What are the Steps to Become a Bright Horizons Foster Family Agency Resource Parent?
Here are the steps involved in becoming certified as a Bright Horizons Foster Family Agency resource parent:
Step 1: Attend an Orientation: Bright Horizons Foster Family Agency orientations are held on a walk-in or appointment basis. Please call (909) 514-0670 or send an email.
Step 2: These activities will take place simultaneously:
◦ Trainings: Bright Horizons Foster Family Agency requires that all resource parents receive 12 hours of training. We provide Saturday courses upon request.
◦ Health Screenings & Background Check: Bright Horizons Foster Family Agency requires that all prospective resource parents pass a health screening and rigorous criminal background check with the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the California Child Abuse Index.
◦ Application: Bright Horizons Foster Family Agency application requires you to complete a number of documents, including a budget demonstrating your ability to live on your current income, DMV report, and other items. When this is successfully completed and accepted, we begin the home study.
◦ Home Studies: You will have two visits from Bright Horizons Foster Family Agency social workers who will review your lifestyle, personal history, family dynamics and home setting.
• Step 4: Final Walk through: Finally, your home is re-visited with the goal of making sure that it now fully complies with state regulations to be a Bright Horizons Foster Family Agency – certified resource home.
• Step 5: Certification: Once all of the above requirements have been met, you may be certified as a Bright Horizons Foster Family Agency resource parent, and begin receiving phone calls to tell you about the children we have ready for placement. Certification allows you the option of accepting or declining children who come from Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.
You can be single or married, over the age of 21, and have NO serious criminal record. You will complete the Agency application, submit documents such as your DMV Record, CPR and First Aid Certificates and a physical and TB test. Resource families must be willing to have their homes safety inspected and are required to complete pre-certification training and maintain ongoing training annually. All training is conducted by a Master-level social worker.
Each family submits a budget that reflects the ability to financially meet the needs of your family. Greenhouse Family Services provides financial support for each child placed in your home.
Yes. Resource parents may continue to wok outside the home. You must arrange to have childcare during the time you are away from the child.
Yes. Each family must demonstrate that they have arranged childcare to support the needs of the child.
Vehicles must be operable and able to seat each placed child including any biological children in the home.
Unfortunately No. Most often children who are placed into our homes as foster children need immediate care and placement.
Yes. When you complete the Greenhouse Family Services Application, you inform us of your preferred age range, and sex of child you prefer. You may change your preferences at any time if you notify the Agency.
The timing of placements depends on the situation of the foster children in the foster system. We match children to available homes based on the child’s needs, your criteria (age, sex, siblings, etc.) and the criteria of the placing social worker. Placements may be made within a couple days of being licensed or can take several months.
For continuity of education services, foster children are generally placed in foster homes in their "home" school district. If this is not feasible, resource parents may enroll the children into the same schools their children attend.
There are minimal out-of-pocket costs associated with completion of the Live Scan (fingerprinting) and the CPR/First Aid training. In addition, there may be out-of-pocket expenses related to ensuring your home meets the home safety checklist and these expenses are not reimbursed.
There are nearly 80,000 children in the foster care system in California, many of whom have been abused and/or neglected, and are in need of the stable, loving home environment that resource parents can provide.
These children range in age from newborn to mid-teens and include various ethnic backgrounds including Caucasian, Hispanic, African American, Pacific Islander and mixed races. We will ask you which ages and ethnicity’s you are most comfortable with and Bright Horizons’s social workers and county placement workers will work as a team to provide the best possible matches between resource families and children.
Serving Riverside, San Bernardino, and Orange Counties since 2007, Bright Horizons Foster Family Agency is a private, non-profit Foster Care Agency licensed by the State of California. Our Master’s level Social Workers have many years of combined experience in child and family services and we take pride in the services we provide to resource parents and the children in their care. Bright Horizons Foster Family Agency is dedicated to working closely with our resource parents as a team of professionals in caring for children.
We offer a full range of support services to our resource parents, including:
We understand that the resource parenting process can be overwhelming. Bright Horizons Foster Family Agency pledges that our staff will competently assist you from your first call or visit with care, support, courtesy and professionalism.
If you’d like to take the first step or have additional questions, please contact us to schedule an appointment for an orientation meeting.
Home studies of the applicant, the applicant’s family, and the applicant’s home environment will be done to determine whether the home would be safe and appropriate for children in foster care. Onsite home visits are conducted to assess the suitability of the home to accommodate the needs of all family members, including the foster children. The condition of the home is evaluated to determine whether it is clean, safe, comfortable, and in conformance with agency regulations. Our agency social worker will conduct interviews with the applicants and all family members to assess their suitability to provide appropriate care for children in foster care. Personal references are contacted for further information. To ensure that the resource parents are healthy enough to provide appropriate care, the social worker may require the results of recent health examinations. Checks of criminal records and child abuse and neglect records also are included in the study.
In placing a child in a foster home, an agency tries to find a home that best suits the child’s needs. The general rule in foster care is to place the child in the least restrictive, most family like placement appropriate to meet the needs of the child. Placement of a child cannot be delayed or denied based on race, color, or national origin of the child or the foster parent.
The Juvenile Dependency Court is responsible for processing all matters involving minors under the age of 18, which have been a victim of neglect or abuse by their guardians or parents. The main goal of the Dependency Court is to provide safety for these children and to ensure that the children receive a permanent home, either through re-unification with their parents, long term foster care or through adoption.
