Foster Care in California: Approval, Pay, and Court Rights

To become a foster parent in California, you apply for Resource Family Approval through your county child welfare department or a licensed foster family agency, pass background checks, complete at least 12 hours of training, and go through a home inspection and family assessment. Once approved, you can accept placements and receive a monthly payment that starts at $1,301 per child for the 2025–26 fiscal year, along with full Medi-Cal coverage for the child. The entire process typically takes four to six months.

Resource Family Approval, or RFA, is the single statewide process California now uses for everyone who wants to care for a child in foster care, whether you plan to foster a relative’s child or accept placements from an agency. It replaced the older patchwork of foster family home licensing, agency certification, and relative approval.¹ The program is codified at Welfare and Institutions Code Section 16519.5.²

Who Can Apply

You need to be at least 18 and living in California. Single adults, married couples, and registered domestic partners can all apply. You can own or rent.

There is no minimum income requirement. The statute specifically says that the possibility of receiving foster care payments to help with household expenses cannot be used as a reason to deny approval.² The agency does look at your overall finances to confirm you can support your existing household, and that review can be waived for relatives and nonrelative extended family members on a case-by-case basis. Health is evaluated as part of the family assessment, with the goal of confirming you can safely care for a child rather than screening out manageable conditions.

Background Checks

Every person 18 or older who lives in your home, or is regularly present there, has to submit to Live Scan fingerprinting. The prints are run through both the California Department of Justice and the FBI.³ The agency also checks the Child Abuse Central Index for substantiated findings against every adult in the household.²

Certain serious convictions mean automatic denial. For other offenses, you can request a criminal record exemption, which the county or CDSS can grant using the same criteria as foster care licensing. CACI findings are evaluated separately. Expect four to six weeks for the CACI check, and somewhat less for the fingerprint results.³

Pre-Approval Training

You need to complete at least 12 hours of pre-approval caregiver training before you can be approved.⁴ The curriculum covers trauma-informed care, child development, and how to support children who have been through abuse, neglect, or multiple placements. Foster family agencies may require more than the state minimum, and training continues after approval, with ongoing education expected the entire time you have a child placed with you.

What Your Home Needs

CDSS publishes Written Directives spelling out the physical standards your home must meet before a child can be placed.⁵ A social worker inspects the home and grounds in person. If something falls short, you usually get a chance to fix it before the final decision.

Each child needs a designated bedroom area with enough room for comfort and privacy, and emergency escape routes through windows or doors must stay accessible.
Working smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms are required on every level.
Cleaning supplies, medications, and toxic substances must be locked away where children cannot reach them.
Any firearms must be stored unloaded in a locked container, with ammunition kept separately.
Swimming pools and spas need a fence with a self-closing, self-latching gate that meets California building code height.

Application and Assessment: What the Timeline Looks Like

You start by submitting form RFA-01A to your county child welfare department or a licensed foster family agency.⁶ From there, the agency runs a two-part comprehensive assessment: the home environment assessment (the physical inspection) and the permanency assessment (an evaluation of you and your family).

The permanency assessment is where you meet multiple times, in person, with the assigned social worker. Expect questions about your family history, why you want to foster, how you handle stress, and how you would parent a child who has been through the dependency system. Everyone in the household participates. The agency writes up its findings and makes a decision. Four to six months is typical, though it depends on agency caseload and how quickly you move through each step.

If you’re denied, you have the right to a state hearing. CDSS has hearing procedures specific to RFA disputes.⁵

If You’re a Relative: Emergency Placement

California law gives preference to relatives when a child is removed from their parents. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and other relatives can receive a child on an emergency basis before the full RFA process is complete, as long as preliminary background checks have been run and the home is free of conditions posing undue risk to the child’s health and safety.²

Once the child is placed, the county must start the home environment assessment within five business days. One hard reality to plan for: foster care payments don’t begin until your RFA is finalized, so you may be caring for the child for a stretch without the monthly check. Nonrelative extended family members, meaning people with a significant prior relationship to the child, can receive emergency placements under the same rules.

What You’ll Be Paid

California pays monthly rates based on the child’s assessed level of need. For 2025–26, the monthly rates for resource families approved through a county are:

Basic level: $1,301
Level 2: $1,447
Level 3: $1,596
Level 4: $1,741

Rates are higher if you work through a foster family agency rather than directly with a county, running from roughly $2,540 to $3,231 depending on age and level, because the agency’s portion is included. An infant supplement of $900 per month is available for children under a certain age. Intensive Services Foster Care, reserved for the highest needs, pays $3,396 per month in a resource family home.

California is phasing in a new Tiered Rate Structure under Welfare and Institutions Code Section 11461. Each child is assessed with a standardized tool called the IP-CANS, and the resulting tier sets the monthly rate: $1,788 for Tier 1, $3,490 for Tier 2, and $6,296 for Tier 3.⁷ New entries into care receive a $2,500 entry rate while the assessment is completed. These payments cover care and supervision; additional funding for the child’s immediate needs can be provided on top.

Health Coverage and Respite

Every child in foster care gets full Medi-Cal with no share of cost and no income or resource limits. That covers medical, dental, and mental health services at no expense to you. Former foster youth stay eligible for Medi-Cal until age 26, regardless of income, as long as they were in foster care on their 18th birthday and meet certain aid code requirements.

Agencies are expected to provide respite care, meaning another approved caregiver can step in temporarily so you can take a break. That matters when you’re caring for a child with complex behavioral or medical needs. Depending on your county and the child’s case plan, services like tutoring, mentoring, and independent living skills classes may also be available.

Youth Who Stay in Care Past 18

California’s Extended Foster Care program, created by Assembly Bill 12, lets eligible youth remain in care until they turn 21. To qualify, the youth must have had a foster care placement order on their 18th birthday, and they must meet one of these conditions:⁸

Enrolled in high school, a GED program, college, or vocational school
Working at least 80 hours per month
Participating in a program designed to help them find work or remove barriers to employment
Unable to do any of the above because of a verified medical or mental health condition

Youth who leave at 18 and later realize they need help can re-enter the system any time before 21 through a Voluntary Re-Entry Agreement, as long as they meet one of the participation requirements. The planning conversation starts at 17 and a half, and youth who choose to stay sign a Mutual Agreement for Extended Foster Care after turning 18. Court hearings continue every six months, and the youth is treated as a non-minor dependent with more say over their own case plan.

If You Want to Adopt the Child

Many resource families eventually adopt the child placed with them. The Adoption Assistance Program provides ongoing financial support and medical coverage to make that workable. The monthly payment is negotiated based on the child’s care and supervision needs and cannot exceed what the child would receive in foster care.⁹

Your income is not used to determine eligibility or set the rate.
SSI and survivor’s benefits the child receives do not reduce adoption assistance.
The child stays on Medi-Cal after the adoption is finalized.
Benefits can continue until age 18, or up to 21 if the child qualifies.
You can be reimbursed up to $400 per child for one-time adoption costs like court filing fees.

One warning: the eligibility determination, benefit negotiation, and signed agreement must all be completed before the adoption is finalized. Waiting until after finalization means losing the program, and that is the most common mistake families make.⁹

Your Rights in the Child’s Court Case

You are not a party to the dependency case, but you have the right to notice of hearings, the right to attend, and the right to submit written information to the court. Welfare and Institutions Code Section 295 requires that current caregivers, including resource families, receive notice and may submit anything they consider relevant.¹⁰

Judges deciding reunification, placement changes, or permanent plans benefit from hearing from the person who actually lives with the child. You can’t be removed from the courtroom simply because you aren’t a legal party, and your written statements become part of the court record. The same rights apply if you’re caring for a non-minor dependent in extended foster care.

Federal Tax Credits

Foster children placed with you by an authorized agency or court order can qualify as eligible foster children for the Child Tax Credit. If the child lived with you more than half the tax year, is under 17, is your dependent, and has a valid Social Security number, you can claim the credit on your federal return.¹¹ For 2025, the credit was $2,200 per qualifying child, indexed for inflation after that.

If you adopt a child from foster care, a separate federal adoption tax credit applies. For adoptions finalized in 2026, the maximum credit is $17,670 per child. It begins to phase out at a modified adjusted gross income of $265,080 and is fully eliminated above $305,080. Because most children adopted from foster care qualify as having special needs under the federal definition, adoptive parents can often claim the full credit regardless of actual out-of-pocket adoption expenses.

1
California Department of Social Services. Continuum of Care Reform
2
California Legislative Information. California Code WIC 16519.5
3
California Department of Social Services. Live Scan Application Process and Associated Fees
4
Children’s Bureau. Home Study Requirements for Prospective Foster Parents – California
5
California Department of Social Services. Resource Family Approval Program
6
California Department of Social Services. Resource Family Application RFA 01A
7
California Legislative Information. California Code WIC 11461
8
California Department of Social Services. Extended Foster Care AB 12
9
California Department of Social Services. Adoption Assistance Program
10
California Legislative Information. California Welfare and Institutions Code 295
11
Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit