Provide High Community Impact
Thank you for your interest in fostering Central Indiana youth. Your decision to influence your community in this way will positively impact youth who are in need of a safe home, compassionate caregivers, and a new hope for the future during times of transition.
Adult & Child Health Improves Lives
Adult and Child Health is a not-for-profit agency which has been supporting the child welfare and health needs of Central Indiana children and families since 1949. We have built a service model that provides the highest level of comprehensive care. We now offer mental health services, primary care, therapeutic foster care, school-based services for students in need, homeless outreach, career services, substance use treatment, and more. We are an Indiana State Certified Community Behavioral Health Center, a Licensed Child Placing Agency, and a Federally Qualified Health Center (look-alike).
Don't Just Take Our Word For It
Hear what our families say about Adult & Child, and their stories along the way.
Frequently Asked Questions
We license a wide variety of foster parents because we believe this diversity will provide the best placements for kids. We encourage and support foster parents regardless of race, religion, socioeconomic status, marital status, sexual orientation, or gender.
- Foster parents must be at least 25 years of age.
- Foster parents must be able to financially support themselves without public assistance.
- Foster parents may be single, divorced, married/non-married, or partnered couples.
- All residents of the household, age 18 and older, must pass local, state, and national criminal background checks. All household members must have clear Child Protective Services checks.
- Foster parents must have reliable, insured transportation and have a valid driver’s license.
- The foster home must have sufficient bedroom space.
- Foster parents must successfully complete Foster Parent Training.
Therapeutic Foster Care, also known as “Treatment” foster care, is a level of foster care that provides care, nurturing, and services to children believed to have significant emotional and behavioral needs. Caregivers who foster through a Therapeutic Foster Care program receive a wide range of support.
There are many reasons more families are needed. It is common for our current families to reach the state’s allowable “maximum” capacity, and not be able to take additional children. In addition, the more families available, the greater the likelihood we can place siblings together. And, the more diverse our foster family base is, the better we can match a child’s needs to a family. The more families we have dispersed throughout our services areas, the more likely we can place children in or near their own communities and avoid disrupting positive familiar connections for the child, like schools, peers, and positive role models.
Foster parents provide a safe, nurturing, and usually temporary home for children who have been removed from their home due to abuse or neglect. Foster parents care for children, with a goal to help them safely reunify with their families.
The licensing process typically takes 2-3 months. It is driven by the emerging foster parent’s engagement in the process.
Our goal is to match your home to the child whose needs and profile are the best fit. We use a specialized matching process when placing foster children. Recognizing that every child is unique, and has unique needs, we work to match the child with staff and families who are best prepared to meet those needs.
Foster and Agency News
Mission Moment: School Based Interventions Lead to a Major Comeback
When a high school student was experiencing anxiety, depression, and trauma symptoms in January of 2023, Adult & Child’s School Based Services and Lola Mahner,
Mission Moment: Reducing Anxiety to Help a Student Stay in the Classroom
Late in September of 2023, Dorian Villanueva, Skills Development Specialist, received a referral for a student experiencing severe separation anxiety that was impacting their ability
The BCA’s Year in Review
The year of 2023 was full of progress for the Black Cultural Awareness (BCA) Taskforce. In late 2022, the BCA restructured to welcome ally members