How to Become a Foster Parent in Massachusetts: MAPP and Home Study

To become a foster parent in Massachusetts, you apply through the Department of Children and Families (DCF) or a licensed private agency, clear background checks on everyone in your household age 14 and up, complete a 30-hour training program called MAPP, and pass a home study conducted by a social worker. Plan on at least three months from your first phone call to a signed license.

Who Qualifies

You need to be a Massachusetts resident, at least 18 years old, and live in a home that is safe and has enough space for a child.¹ You don’t have to own the home, be married, or hit any income threshold. DCF does want to see that your household is financially stable enough that adding a child won’t create hardship, and they’ll look at your housing history during the application.²

Single adults, unmarried couples, and same-sex couples are all eligible. There is no maximum age. If you go through a contracted private agency instead of DCF directly, that agency can add its own requirements — some set a minimum age of 21, for example — but the state itself does not.

Background Checks

Every applicant and every household member age 14 or older has to pass background checks at the local, state, and national level. DCF runs Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI), Sex Offender Registry Information (SORI), and a search of child welfare records for any prior abuse or neglect findings.³ Younger household members can also be checked if concerns come up.⁴

Some convictions are permanent bars: murder, rape, child abuse, human trafficking, incest, child pornography, and other serious violent or sexual offenses. A separate group of felonies, including assault with a dangerous weapon, aggravated assault, and certain drug offenses, disqualifies a household member for five years from the date of arraignment.³ Important point: a disqualifying record for anyone in the home blocks the whole household’s application, not just that person.

Applying and Completing MAPP Training

Start by contacting DCF or a licensed private foster care agency. You’ll attend an orientation where staff walk through the realities of foster parenting and the needs of children in state care. After orientation, you submit a formal application with your household information and consent to the background checks.

Once you’re accepted, you enroll in the Massachusetts Approach to Partnerships in Parenting, or MAPP. Every prospective foster and adoptive parent in the state takes it. The program runs 30 hours total, broken into three-hour sessions held once or twice a week over several weeks. Topics include communication, positive discipline, child guidance, building self-esteem, and working with birth families.⁵ The training is free. MAPP is also structured so you can honestly assess whether foster parenting fits your family. Some participants decide during the training that it isn’t the right time, and trainers treat that as a fine outcome.

The Home Study

The home study is the most involved part. A social worker from DCF or a contracted agency makes multiple in-person visits and interviews every member of your household, including one-on-one conversations with each applicant. They’re looking at family dynamics, your understanding of what children in care have experienced, and your capacity to absorb the stress of taking in a child in crisis.⁶

Everyone in the home needs a current medical exam from a licensed physician confirming they have no physical, mental, or emotional condition that would keep them from providing appropriate care.⁷ The social worker will also call your personal references to ask about your character, parenting style, and support network. Expect the whole home study to take several weeks.

Home Safety and Space Standards

Your home doesn’t need to be big or expensive, but it does need to meet specific standards set in state regulation.⁸ The main ones:

Each bedroom used by foster children must give at least 50 square feet per child, with no more than four children per bedroom. Kinship homes can get a waiver reducing that to 35 square feet per child.
Every child needs their own bed and adequate storage for personal belongings.
No foster child over age one may share a bedroom with an adult. No foster child over age four may share a bedroom with a child of the opposite sex, except siblings up to age eight.
Foster children’s bedrooms can’t be above the second floor unless that floor has two safe exits. Below-ground bedrooms need a ground-level door exit and an operable window.
Working smoke detectors on every floor, basement included.
Any firearm must be licensed, trigger-locked or fully inoperable, and stored unloaded in a locked area. Ammunition goes in a separate locked location.
All pets need current vaccinations, rabies shots, and municipal licensing.
The home needs working lighting, ventilation, hot and cold water, plumbing, electricity, heat, a refrigerator, and a cooking stove.

The social worker inspects for all of this during the home study. If something falls short, you usually get a chance to fix it before the application is denied.⁹

Getting Licensed and Matched

Once MAPP, background checks, and the home study are all done, DCF issues your license. The license type sets which children can be placed with you. An unrestricted license approves you for any child DCF places with you. A child-specific license covers one particular child, usually because you already have a relationship with them as a teacher, family friend, or neighbor. A kinship license goes to relatives or someone closely connected to the child’s family, and kinship homes can qualify for the reduced space requirement mentioned above.

DCF also licenses specialized homes for intensive foster care (children with significant medical or emotional needs), hotline placements (emergency overnight stays), and respite care (temporary breaks for other foster families).

After licensing, a placement worker matches your family with a child based on the child’s age, needs, background, and sibling connections, alongside your household’s strengths. Pre-placement visits often happen before a child moves in. Emergency placements can arrive with very little notice.

Stipends and Tax Benefits

DCF pays a daily stipend for each foster child in your home, set by age. As of July 1, 2025, the rates are $34.12 per day for children ages 0–5, $38.66 per day for ages 6–12, and $40.39 per day for age 13 and up.¹⁰

There’s a quarterly clothing allowance on top of that: $338.80 for ages 0–5, $349.44 for ages 6–12, and $420.40 for age 13 and older. Each foster child also gets $100 toward a birthday gift and $200 for holiday gifts annually. DCF may reimburse other child-specific expenses in special circumstances; ask your assigned social worker what qualifies.¹⁰ The stipends are meant to cover the cost of caring for the child, not to serve as income, and foster parents consistently report spending more out of pocket than the stipends cover.

Children in foster care receive MassHealth, so medical, dental, behavioral health, and prescription costs are covered at no expense to you while the child remains in DCF custody. If you eventually adopt a foster child, you may qualify for the federal adoption tax credit; for adoptions finalized in 2026, the maximum is $17,670 per child, and children adopted from foster care who are classified as having special needs under state criteria qualify the family for the full credit even without out-of-pocket adoption expenses. The credit is partially refundable for 2026 adoptions.¹¹ You may also be able to claim a foster child for the child tax credit if the child lived with you for more than half the tax year, is under 17, and meets the other qualifying-child rules.¹²

Ongoing Responsibilities

Licensing isn’t the end of the training. You’ll build an annual plan with DCF for continued education and support, and foster parents licensed through contracted agencies are generally expected to complete about 20 hours of training per year. Your core responsibilities after placement include:

Providing daily care, supervision, and a stable home
Making sure the child attends school and has access to appropriate extracurricular activities
Arranging routine and emergency medical and dental care
Facilitating visits with birth parents and siblings when DCF determines they’re appropriate
Working with the child’s DCF social worker and joining service plan meetings
Respecting the child’s racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and religious background
Supporting the child’s sexual orientation or gender identity

Each foster child has their own assigned DCF social worker, and your household will also have a Foster Family/Kinship Social Worker for ongoing guidance.⁶

If Your Application Is Denied

DCF’s decision to deny or discontinue a foster care license can be appealed through the state’s Fair Hearing process. You have 30 calendar days from receiving written notice to file. Requests go in online, by mail, or by email, and you must also send a copy to the Area Director of the DCF office that made the decision.¹³

Foster care licensure appeals are prioritized and scheduled within 45 business days. You have the right to be represented at the hearing and to receive timely notice of the date and location. If you’re a current foster parent appealing the discontinuation of your license, your license stays in effect until the agency issues a final decision.¹³

A Fair Hearing isn’t available in every situation. If you were found ineligible under the initial screening criteria, or if information discovered during assessment would have made you ineligible from the start, the denial is final.

1
Mass.gov. Foster Parent Eligibility
2
Massachusetts Department of Children and Families. Standards for DCF Foster/Pre-Adoptive Families
3
Department of Children and Families. Background Record Check Policy
4
Child Welfare Information Gateway. Background Checks for Prospective Foster, Adoptive, and Kinship Caregivers – Massachusetts
5
Mass.gov. List of Adoptive or Foster Parent Training
6
Legal Information Institute. Massachusetts Code 110 CMR 7.104 – Standards for Licensure as a Foster/Pre-adoptive Parent
7
Child Welfare Information Gateway. Home Study Requirements for Prospective Foster Parents – Massachusetts
8
Legal Information Institute. Massachusetts Code 110 CMR 7.105 – Standards for Licensure of Foster/Pre-adoptive Homes
9
Massachusetts Department of Children and Families. 110 CMR 7.000 – Department of Children and Families Services
10
Mass.gov. Resources for Foster Parents
11
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 6130 – The Adoption Credit
12
Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit
13
Mass.gov. Guide to Fair Hearings