Comprehensive Foster Care

We ensure children across Massachusetts have safe, loving foster homes.

In a state and a nation where every child is supposed to have a fair shot at success, we seek to lead the charge and deliver on this promise for one of the most systemically marginalized groups of young people — children and youth experiencing foster care.

We are the largest nonprofit provider of comprehensive foster care in Massachusetts. We recruit, train, and support loving foster homes. And we ensure that the children and teens in our care receive the resources, supports and opportunities that they deserve.
 

HOW IT WORKS

LEARN MORE ABOUT BECOMING A FOSTER PARENT
“Family is a loveline, not a bloodline.”
New England Patriots player Ty Montgomery
“I love providing them with lots of happy memories that all children should be able to have.”
Kathy, HopeWell foster parent

How it Works

When children enter foster care due to reasons such as abuse, neglect, or parent illness, incarceration, or death, the state Department of Children and Families (DCF) calls on providers to help find and support loving foster homes. HopeWell is the oldest and largest nonprofit provider of comprehensive foster care in Massachusetts.

This year, we supported nearly 500 children and teens in HopeWell foster homes across Massachusetts.

Threaded throughout all of our foster care work is a focus on permanency. We work to secure a path to a permanent home for the children and teens in our care — whether it’s through reunification with their birth family, a kinship placement, adoption, or legal guardianship. We also intervene upstream through our Family Support & Stabilization program, so that fewer children need to enter foster care in the first place.

✔ We guide people who are interested in becoming foster parents through the process. For example, we ensure each person meets standard eligibility requirements, such as a safe home environment and criminal background check. We get to know each person and look for characteristics we have found help make potential foster parents successful, such as an open mind about learning new parenting skills and comfort navigating some uncertainty. Read more about the requirements and process for becoming a foster parent here.

✔ We train foster parents through the Massachusetts Approach to Partnership in Parenting (MAPP) program.

✔ We help children and families navigate the placement process to ensure a good fit.

✔ We provide ongoing support to children and foster parents, including expert support from our team of staff, emergency support, financial support, and programming and events.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Foster Parents Needed!

HopeWell's foster parents help change the world, one child at a time. With 60 years of experience guiding us, we are happy to answer your questions, explain the process, and provide specifics about the supports we provide our amazing community of foster parents.  

LEARN MORE ABOUT FOSTERING WITH HOPEWELL


More Resources & Information

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