To meet North Carolina foster care requirements, you must be at least 21 years old, be a U.S. citizen or hold lawful immigration status, pass criminal and child-welfare background checks on every adult in your household, complete 30 hours of pre-service training, and maintain a home that meets the state’s safety standards.1North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Foster Homes Single people, married couples, renters, and homeowners can all apply. From your first phone call to a license in hand, expect six to seven months.
Who Qualifies
The age floor is firm: 21 for every applicant.1North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Foster Homes You do not need to be married, own your home, or hit an income threshold. What you do need is enough household income to cover your own living expenses without leaning on the monthly board payments the state sends for a foster child’s needs.
Each applicant also completes a medical evaluation with a licensed provider, documented on Form DSS-5156. The provider confirms you are physically and mentally capable of caring for a child. A fresh evaluation is required again at every renewal, and at renewal it must be dated within the past 12 months.2North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Foster Home Licensing
Background Checks and Disqualifying Convictions
Every applicant and every adult living in the home goes through a layered set of checks: a fingerprint-based search of state and national criminal databases, the national sex offender registry, the North Carolina Sex Offender and Public Protection Registration Program, and the state’s Suspect and Offender Processing Portal. A separate child protective services check looks for any substantiated report of abuse or neglect.3North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings. 10A NCAC 70L – Licensing of Family Foster Homes for Children
Federal law sets a floor the state cannot waive. Under 42 U.S.C. § 671(a)(20), a felony conviction for child abuse or neglect, spousal abuse, a crime against a child (including child pornography), or a violent crime such as rape, sexual assault, or homicide is a permanent bar.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 671 – State Plan for Foster Care and Adoption Assistance A felony conviction for physical assault, battery, or a drug- or alcohol-related offense triggers a five-year bar rather than a permanent one; older convictions may still be approved after the state weighs the circumstances.
Beyond the federal list, the licensing authority evaluates the overall character and suitability of every household member. A criminal history that does not automatically disqualify you under federal law can still result in a denial if the state judges it a safety concern.
Home Safety Standards
Your home is inspected for fire safety (Form DSS-1515) and environmental conditions (Form DSS-5150) before a license is issued.2North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Foster Home Licensing Your licensing worker will walk through what the inspector looks for so you can fix problems in advance.
Sleeping Arrangements
Each foster child gets their own bed. No child shares a bed with any other person. Bedrooms must meet the minimum square footage set by the administrative code, whether the room is single-occupancy or shared.
Firearms, Medications, and Poisons
Firearms must be unloaded and stored in locked containers. Ammunition goes in a separate locked container, and children cannot have access to either set of keys. All medications, cleaning agents, and poisonous substances stay in a locked cabinet or area. Medications remain in their original containers, labeled with the child’s name, dosage, and frequency, and are given only as prescribed.5North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings. 10A NCAC 70E – Foster Mutual Home Assessment
Pools and Water Hazards
In-ground pools must be enclosed by a fence at least 48 inches high with a locked gate. Above-ground pool ladders must be locked in place or removed and stored out of reach. Temporary or seasonal pools that stay up more than 24 hours need the same 48-inch fence or a removable ladder. Ponds, rivers, lakes, and streams visible from the home fall under the same 48-inch fence-and-locked-gate rule.6North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Change Notice – Foster Home Licensing Manual Your supervising agency completes a Water Hazard Safety Assessment (DSS-5018) at initial licensing and every renewal, and you fill out an Individual Water Hazard Safety Plan for any child placed in a home with a known water hazard.
How Many Children Can Live in the Home
A family foster home is capped at five children total at any time. That includes your biological children, foster children, any children you babysit, and anyone else under 18 living in the household.7North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings. 10A NCAC 70E .1001 In-home daycare children count too. Therapeutic foster homes have a tighter cap of four children total, with no more than two of them being therapeutic placements, and therapeutic foster parents cannot provide in-home daycare or babysitting.
Documents to Gather
The formal application is Form DSS-5016, available through your local county Department of Social Services or a licensed private child-placing agency.8North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. DSS-5016 – Foster Home License Application Alongside the application, you will need:
- Proof of income (pay stubs, tax returns, or similar) showing you can cover your own expenses without the board payment.
- Three personal references from each adult in the household.
- Fingerprint cards for the state and national criminal records check. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation charges $38 for a combined state and national check, or $14 for state only; your local law enforcement agency may add a processing fee.9North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. Fingerprinting
- A completed medical evaluation (Form DSS-5156) for each applicant.
Incomplete packets get returned. Gathering the paperwork early is the single easiest way to keep your timeline on track.
Training and Home Assessment
Every prospective foster parent completes TIPS-MAPP (Trauma Informed Partnering for Safety and Permanence — Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting) or an equivalent state-approved program. It runs a minimum of 30 hours and covers how the child welfare system works, the practical skills you will use, and whether fostering fits your family at this point in your life.10North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. How To Foster and or Adopt Classes typically meet one evening a week for ten weeks or two evenings a week for five weeks, running 6 to 9 p.m. so working families can attend. Couples attend together.
After training, the supervising agency completes a Mutual Home Assessment: a series of interviews and home visits looking at family dynamics, parenting approach, and readiness to bring a foster child into daily life. Once the assessment and paperwork are in order, the local agency forwards the packet to the North Carolina Division of Social Services for license issuance. Plan for six to seven months from first contact to approval.
License Term and Renewal
A North Carolina foster home license lasts 24 months from the date the application packet is complete and correct.2North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Foster Home Licensing Renewal is not automatic. You submit a new packet before the license expires, and every document except the medical evaluation must be dated within 180 days of when your supervising agency sends the packet to the licensing authority. The medical evaluation must be dated within the past 12 months.
Renewal requires 20 hours of additional pre-renewal training (down from 30 for the initial license), updated fire and environmental inspection reports, a fresh medical evaluation, and new criminal background checks. Between renewal cycles, you also complete at least 10 hours of in-service training each year, and your first aid, CPR, and universal precautions certifications must stay current.
Monthly Payments and Taxes
North Carolina pays a monthly board rate to cover a foster child’s food, clothing, and personal expenses. Published rates are $702 a month for ages 0 to 5, $742 for ages 6 to 12, and $810 for ages 13 and older. These payments are for the child. They are not household income, which is why the state examines your finances during the application.
Federal law treats them the same way. Under 26 U.S.C. § 131, qualified foster care payments are excluded from your gross income.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 131 – Certain Foster Care Payments The exclusion covers standard board payments and “difficulty of care” payments for children who need extra support. There are caps: for foster individuals age 19 or older, payments other than difficulty-of-care payments are not excludable if you care for more than five such individuals, and difficulty-of-care payments cap at 10 individuals under 19 and five who are 19 or older.
A foster child who lived with you more than half the year, and for whom you provided more than half the support from your own funds (board payments do not count toward your support), may qualify as your dependent. That can open eligibility for the Child Tax Credit, Head of Household filing status, and the Earned Income Credit.
Working With Biological Families
Foster care in North Carolina is built around reunification with the biological family whenever it is safe. You learn your specific roles and obligations in judicial proceedings during pre-service training, and if a child returns to a biological parent, you are responsible for communicating about immunizations the child has received and any additional ones needed.12North Carolina General Assembly. NC General Statutes – Chapter 131D Article 1A The state’s Foster Parents’ Bill of Rights recognizes this cooperative role and gives you the right to request a shared parenting agreement with clear expectations between you, the biological parents, and the agency, as well as referrals for support resources when a child transitions home. Families who go in expecting to cooperate with biological parents fare better in the role than those who don’t.