Can you claim foster kids on taxes?

You don't get to claim them. It has to be the majority of the tax year, so the six months and a day have to all fall in 2012. This is actually the first time I will get to claim foster kids as I have had some longer than six months before, but they have not been here six months in a given year---until this year I actually have two. One I got June 29th and I insisted that if they were going to place her with me it had to be before July 1st, so that I would be able to claim her if she was still here at the end of 2012 (which she is).