Thank you for your interest in becoming a resource parent to children and youth in state care. In New Jersey, the number of youth in foster care continues to be reduced each year due to a focus on services that strengthen and assist families to prevent abuse and neglect, and the prioritization of kinship care when out of home placement is required. This has afforded us the opportunity to reevaluate the capacity of our current pool of resource families and their ability to meet the unique needs of special populations of youth in care.
As a result, the state has begun to process only the inquiries of prospective resource families who are willing and able to provide a loving home to the following :
- Children and youth with complex behavioral health, developmental and medical needs
- Adolescent youth ages 13-17
- Sibling Groups of 4 or more
- NJ children and youth cleared for adoption.
*NJ children and youth who are currently cleared for adoption have unique needs and include characteristics of the other 3 specialized populations described above
If you experience any issues with completing this inquiry please call 1-800-222-0047
If you are interested, click on the link below to apply:
https://www.embrella.org/become-a-foster-parent-nj/
Please continue to check our website for any future updates as we continue to assess our needs.
If you have any questions about adoption services, please contact 1-800-99 ADOPT.
If you've already adopted and would like to contact the Office of Adoption Operations:
Office of Adoption Operations Main Number: 609-888-7460
Adoption Subsidy Unit: 1-800-847-5027
KLG Subsidy Unit: 1-866-233-5356
Adoption Registry Unit: 609-888-7474
