Foster Care

The primary goal of foster care is ensuring the safety, permanency and well-being of the children served by the program. Foster care is the provision of a temporary home to children who cannot live with their parents due to abuse, neglect, or dependency. While the child is in foster care, caseworkers provide services and/or arrange for services to help the parents make the necessary changes to correct the conditions that brought the children into care and enable them to provide a safe and nurturing home. When returning home is not possible, the program provides alternative permanency placement through adoption or alternative guardianship.

The program provides three types of out-of-home care:
  1. Traditional foster care
  2. Specialized foster care for children with special emotional, behavioral, or medical needs
  3. Home-of-Relative care for the care of foster children in the home of their relatives.
Foster care is building relationships that last a lifetime.

If you would be interested in becoming a foster or adoptive parent or want additional information, you can go to our web page on becoming a foster parent.

If you have any questions, you can send email to Catholic Social Services' Foster Care, or if you would rather phone, local telephone numbers can be found on the regional office page.

Foster Parent Implementation Plan

Foster Parents are entrusted with the health, safety, and welfare of abused and neglected children. With this important trust come certain rights, responsibilities and opportunities to be represented and to participate in representing foster families and children. The following is the Agency's plan to implement the 2008 CSS Foster Parent Law (PDF) (Word format). It is evaluated under the authority of the Statewide Foster Care Advisory Council every November.

If you, as Foster Parents have questions, comments, concerns, and/or suggestions about what is written in the Agency Plan, we ask and encourage you to email fosterparentlaw@cssil.org. Your input regarding this Implementation Plan is important and will be considered when updating the Plan each year.


CSS is licensed by the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services Lic. #003976.
Catholic Social Services, 8601 West Main St., Belleville, IL 62223, 800-977-9702
[ Last update: Wednesday, April 4, 2007]