Our community includes children and adolescents with difficult backgrounds who want to live in a family setting. Many do not know how a family works, plays, or lives together. Maryhurst needs special families to provide these youth with the opportunity to experience healthy family life.

What makes a Family Treatment Home? Foster families are given specialized training to provide a balance of structure and nurture in their home. This gives our youth a solid foundation to work through issues related to abuse or neglect and continue their journey of hope.

Maryhurst offers regular "respite" care to our full-time treatment foster parents. One or two weekends a month, a youth in therapeutic foster care stays with another foster family. This gives the full-time foster parent some time to re-energize and the youth a chance to form other healthy relationships. Some families choose to become certified only to provide respite care. This is a valuable service that provides many of the benefits of fostering without the full-time commitment.

Requirements for Certification as a Family Treatment Home

• Completion of training classes
• Information regarding family background and suitability of living environment
• Criminal and Abuse/Neglect background checks
• A home study

Foster parents can't take the place of mom or dad, but they can reap some of the same rewards:

• The deep satisfaction that comes from making a difference in a child's life
• Financial assistance above the cost of care
• The opportunity for personal growth
• The chance to form lifetime relationships

Treatment foster parents must meet the following qualifications:

• 21 years of age or older
• Single or married
• Financially stable
• Physically healthy enough to care for an active young person
• No history of abusing or neglecting children or adults

Foster Parent Pre-Service Training
Applicants are required by state regulation to successfully complete 36 hours of pre-service training to become certified as Foster Parents. Requirements include satisfactory attendance, completed homework assignments and the ability to demonstrate the skills learned during training. The training will primarily focus on the following subjects:

- Effective Communication	- Working with a team	- Discipline
- Motivation	- Rewards	- Documentation
- Special needs of children	- Common diagnoses

Interested in becoming a Foster Parent? Complete an application today! Application In PDF Format

For more information on how you or members of your congregation, parish, club, or group can become or help foster families, contact Jacqueline Johnson or call 502-499-1570 x720.

Maryhurst is a privately-operated, not-for-profit agency receiving referrals from the Kentucky Cabinet for Families and Children and KY Impact Plus.