North Carolina Foster Care: Licensing, Pay, and Renewal

To become a foster parent in North Carolina, you must be at least 21 years old, a legal resident of the United States and North Carolina, and licensed by the state before any child can be placed in your home. Licensing runs through the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS), but you apply through your local county Department of Social Services (DSS) or a licensed private child-placing agency. The full path involves 30 hours of preservice training, criminal and medical checks for every adult in the household, a home study, and a safety inspection. NCDHHS has three months to grant or deny the license once you apply, and a full license lasts up to 24 months.¹

Who Qualifies

North Carolina defines a foster parent as anyone at least 21 years old who holds a state license to provide foster care.² Single people, married couples, and unmarried partners living together can all apply. You need enough income to cover your own household without leaning on foster care payments, and your home must have adequate space for a child. Every household member also has to pass a physical exam by a licensed medical provider confirming they meet minimum physical and mental health standards.³

Where to Start

Contact your county DSS office or a licensed private child-placing agency. They provide the application forms, walk you through documentation, and schedule your training. No one may operate a foster home or receive a child without first applying through NCDHHS and submitting the required materials.¹

Preservice Training

You must complete at least 30 hours of preservice training before licensing.⁴ The standard course is TIPS-MAPP, short for Trauma Informed Partnering for Safety and Permanence – Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting, though NCDHHS accepts approved equivalents.⁵ The curriculum covers how the child welfare system works, the foster parent’s role on the child’s care team, and practical skills for supporting children who have experienced trauma. If you receive a provisional license before finishing, you have six months from the issue date to complete the training.

Background Checks and Documentation

The state runs county, state, and federal criminal background checks on every applicant and every household member aged 18 or older. You submit fingerprints to the State Bureau of Investigation, which forwards them to the FBI for a national search. Felony convictions for child abuse, sexual assault, or homicide are permanently disqualifying. Felony convictions for physical assault, battery, or drug offenses within the past five years also disqualify you.⁶

Along with the background check, your application package includes medical reports for each household member, financial disclosures showing you can cover your household without foster care board payments, and character references who can speak to your suitability as a caregiver.

The Mutual Home Assessment

Once your paperwork is in and training is underway, a licensing social worker conducts what the state calls a “mutual home assessment.” The word “mutual” is deliberate: the process is meant to help you and the agency figure out together whether foster parenting fits your family, and what kind of child you’re best equipped to care for.⁷

Expect several face-to-face interviews on different dates. A single applicant sits for at least two separate interviews. Joint applicants have individual interviews with each partner plus two joint sessions. Every household member aged 10 or older is interviewed separately. Group training sessions don’t count toward these interview requirements. The assessment looks at five areas: each applicant’s family history, twelve specific foster parenting skills, the physical home, your ability to work cooperatively with the child’s birth family and caseworker, and your financial readiness.

Home Safety Inspection

The home must meet fire and environmental safety standards. Inspectors check for working smoke detectors, accessible fire exits from sleeping rooms, and safe heating equipment. Interior doors along escape routes can’t be lockable, and security bars or locks requiring a key or code to open are prohibited on exit doors and windows.

How the License Is Issued

NCDHHS must grant or deny a license within three months of application.¹ A full license is valid for up to 24 months. If you’re temporarily unable to meet a rule but the issue isn’t an immediate safety threat, the state may issue a provisional license for up to six months while you fix the problem.

What You’ll Be Paid

North Carolina reimburses foster parents with a monthly board payment scaled to the child’s age. Current NCDHHS rates are $702 per month for children from birth through age 5, $742 for ages 6 through 12, and $810 for ages 13 and older.⁸ State statute caps maximum allowable rates at $726, $766, and $838 for the same age groups, so rates can be adjusted within those ceilings without new legislation.⁹ Children with more intensive physical, emotional, or behavioral needs may qualify for additional difficulty-of-care payments on top of the standard board rate.

Payments are meant to cover food, clothing, personal supplies, and other day-to-day costs. They aren’t taxable income: under Section 131 of the Internal Revenue Code, qualified foster care payments are excluded from your gross income entirely, so you don’t report them on your tax return.¹⁰ Semi-annual clothing allowances are also provided, though specific dollar amounts are set by local county policy rather than a statewide schedule. Some counties reimburse transportation, day care, and respite care through separate claims.

Foster children are automatically enrolled in the Children and Families Specialty Plan through NC Medicaid, which covers physical health, behavioral health, pharmacy, and long-term support services statewide, so you won’t need to provide health insurance out of pocket.¹¹

Your Rights and Responsibilities

North Carolina’s Foster Parents’ Bill of Rights sets out what licensed foster parents are entitled to receive from the placing agency and the courts.¹² The agency must share any known health history, behavioral health history, trauma exposure, disability information, and educational needs for the child in your care. You’re entitled to reasonable notice before a child is removed from your home, though the timeline depends on the case. You must also receive notice of court hearings involving any child placed with you and have the right to provide input verbally or in writing; the clerk of court must notify you at least 15 days before each periodic review.

On the responsibility side, foster parents cooperate with the child’s permanency plan, which often aims for reunification with the birth family. That means working with caseworkers, attending Child and Family Team meetings, and supporting visitation even when progress feels slow.

Renewing Your License

After the initial 30-hour preservice training, you need 10 hours of continuing education every year.⁴ The license itself must be renewed every two years. Renewal includes a face-to-face interview in your home, a compliance review of fire and sanitation inspections, updated criminal background and child abuse registry checks for household members 18 and older, updated medical reports, and a review of your financial records and training logs.¹³ Falling behind on continuing education or leaving safety issues unresolved is the fastest way to lose your license at renewal.

Recent Changes Under the Fostering Care in NC Act

Session Law 2025-16, the Fostering Care in NC Act, changed several rules that affect foster parents. Some provisions took effect in 2025; others phase in later. The law formally identifies four types of placements a county DSS may use: a licensed foster home, a DSS-operated facility, a facility licensed to provide care to children, or a home approved by DSS (including the home of a relative, nonrelative kin, or someone with legal custody of a sibling).¹⁴ Placing a child in an unlicensed facility or one not licensed for children now requires advance court approval.

The act also clarifies when foster parents can intervene as parties in a juvenile case: only if they have standing to file a petition to terminate the parents’ rights. Before return of custody or unsupervised visits with the parent from whom the child was removed, DSS must observe that parent with the child for at least two visits of no less than one hour each, held at least seven days apart within 30 days of the hearing where DSS recommends the change.¹⁴

1
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina General Statutes 131D-10.3 – Licensure Required
2
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code Chapter 131D – Article 1A
3
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Foster Homes
4
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 131D-10.6A – Training by the Division of Social Services Required
5
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. How To Foster and or Adopt
6
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 131D-10.3A – Mandatory Criminal Checks
7
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Foster Home Licensing
8
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. NC DSS Appendix 3.5 – Foster Care Funding
9
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 108A-49.1 – Foster Care and Adoption Assistance Payment Rates
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 131 – Certain Foster Care Payments
11
NC Medicaid. Children and Families Specialty Plan
12
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 131D-10.9C – Foster Parents Bill of Rights
13
North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings. 10A NCAC 70E – Foster Home Licensing Rules
14
North Carolina General Assembly. Session Law 2025-16