Foster Care Arizona

There’s no time like right now to become a foster parent in Arizona. There are more than 7,000 children and teens in the state’s child welfare system who are waiting for a safe, nurturing, temporary home. If you’re looking for a way to give back to your community, fostering is a great starting point.

Becoming a foster parent is no easy task, and it definitely requires a great deal of time and energy. However, it is also an incredibly rewarding undertaking. This guide can help you get started. We’ll cover everything you need to know about AZ foster care, taking a top-down look at the process itself. Read on to find out if you meet the Arizona foster parent requirements, who to contact to get started, and even how you can adopt from foster care.

The Need for Foster Homes in Arizona

With so many children in need of foster homes, it’s easy to see why the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) have recently increased the number of resources available for foster parents. Foster parents provide an invaluable service to children and teens throughout Arizona, providing stable, supportive homes as families work toward reunification.

Unfortunately, the state is struggling to keep up with this increased demand for temporary caregivers. It is often difficult to find placements for older children, teenagers, and sibling groups that cannot be separated. Arizona is also in need of qualified therapeutic foster parents who are trained to care for kids with special medical, psychological, and developmental needs, especially youths aged 8-17. The state has additional support in place for those interested in becoming therapeutic foster parents.

For many children, foster parents provide a sense of stability while their biological families may be in turmoil. Fostering isn’t easy, but it can be eye opening for both you and your foster child. If you fit the basic Arizona foster parent requirements, you could take this life-changing next step.

Foster Parent Requirements in Arizona

Age: You must be at least 21 years old to foster a child, and 18 or older to adopt from foster care.
Residency: You can be a homeowner or renter, but you must be an Arizona resident and a legal U.S. citizen. You may prove your residency with a driver’s license, renter’s agreement, voter registration form, or similar documentation.
Marital Status: Arizona accepts foster parents who are single, married, or in cohabiting relationships. If you are married, you and your spouse must both complete the necessary training and home study requirements.
Financial Stability: You should be financially stable and capable of covering all household costs. You must be able to pay for a child’s basic needs before you receive a foster care stipend.
Health: You and all members of your household must be in good physical and mental health. You must provide a health statement from your doctor during the initial home study, and again at each license renewal.
Background Checks: All adults in the home must pass local and FBI criminal background checks. You must submit your fingerprints and receive a Level 1 Clearance Card from the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
Home Environment: Your home must pass a safety inspection. The house should be clean, and spacious enough for a child to have privacy. The home should also contain a working fire extinguisher and a smoke detector in each bedroom and the living room.
Training: You must complete the 6-hour, state-mandated foster parent training program. Once you are licensed, you must undergo CPR and first aid training, along with six hours of training related to child development and welfare.

How to Become a Foster Parent in Arizona: The Step-by-Step Process

Attend an Informational Meeting: Most prospective foster parents begin their journey by attending an orientation session, virtually or in person. In Arizona, this involves submitting an information request through the DCS website, or an affiliated child welfare agency that arranges foster placements. Once you submit your request, a DCS employee will contact you with more information about where and how you can attend a meeting.
Complete the Application: If you leave the informational session more determined than ever to become a foster parent in Arizona, it’s time to select a licensing agency and fill out an official application. This application goes into greater detail than the initial interest form on the DCS site. You’ll need to provide details about your background, health status, family, and lifestyle. This includes proof of income, medical information, and a description of your family dynamic.
Participate in Pre-Service Training: Pre-service training is essential for anyone interested in providing foster care. Arizona offers all sessions online; however, they must be completed in order. The curriculum includes three prerequisite courses and 10 3-hour webinars that are presented over the course of five weeks. Classes address fundamental child care topics, such as safety, health, and navigating supervised visits.

You must complete the training program within 8 weeks of your start date. If you are married or cohabiting, DCS recommends attending the classes together.

Training for therapeutic foster parents consists of 60 study hours over a period of 4-6 months, in addition to the standard curriculum.

Complete the Home Study: The home study is a process in which a social worker from your licensing agency interviews you and your family members and inspects your house to ensure that it is safe and clean. During the home study, you and other adults in your household must undergo a series of background criminal checks and provide a fingerprint clearance card from the Arizona Department of Safety. You and the other adults must also submit a medical self-disclosure statement.

The social worker will interview all family members, including children, to get to know your family and to better understand your parenting style and motivations for fostering. They will also inspect your home for any safety hazards, and ensure that there is enough space for a child to live and play safely and comfortably.

Receive Your License: When DCS approves your home study results, you officially meet all Arizona foster parent requirements and may obtain your license.

Financial Support: The Arizona Foster Care Stipend

Like other states, Arizona provides foster parents with a non-taxable monthly stipend to help offset the costs of caring for a child. This amount is meant to be reimbursement, and does not cover all expenses. If you are a foster parent, you must still earn enough money before receiving the stipend to support a child.

In December 2025, Arizona doubled the amount of the monthly stipend to encourage more people to foster, offering caregivers as much as $1,700 a month. Although many states offer flat monthly foster care payments, Arizona calculates payments per day, according to the number of foster children in a home and any special needs a child might have.

The current monthly foster care stipend rates for Arizona are as follows:

One Child:

Ages 0-12 months: $24.94 per day
Ages 1-2 years: $22.64 per day
Ages 3-5 years: $20.94 per day
Ages 6-11 years: $31.76 per day
Ages 12 years+: $44.21 per day

Two Children:

Ages 0-12 months: $28.78 per day
Ages 1-2 years: $26.48 per day
Ages 3-5 years: $24.78 per day
Ages 6-11 years: $37.52 per day
Ages 12 years+: $47.58 per day

In addition to receiving the stipend, foster children in Arizona are eligible for free medical and dental care through the Arizona Healthcare Containment System. They qualify for coverage until they are 26 years old.

Adopting from Foster Care in Arizona

The goal of foster care is to reunite foster children with their biological families, but unfortunately, that isn’t always possible. When parents do not comply with the DCS reunification plan, their parental rights are terminated and their child becomes eligible for adoption.

In Arizona, there are two ways to adopt from foster care. Some parents adopt their foster child when the biological parents lose parental rights. This is sometimes known as a “legal risk” adoption, because there is no guarantee that the child will become available for adoption. The foster parents must still commit to the reunification goal, no matter how much they might like to adopt.

Arizona also allows people to adopt a child who is in foster care without fostering first themselves. However, they must also complete a training program and undergo a home study. These parents match with a child on the Children’s Heart Gallery and contact DCS about a potential adoption. All kids with profiles on the Children’s Heart Gallery are legally free for adoption.

In Arizona, adopted children with special needs qualify for a monthly subsidy to help pay for any necessary expenses. Special needs children may have physical or mental disabilities, ongoing medical challenges, or require physical or behavioral therapy. Kids who are adopted as part of a sibling group, older children, and members of certain minority groups may also be eligible to receive the stipend.

Get Started: Arizona Foster Care Resources

Now that you know exactly how to foster in Arizona, you’re ready to take the next step. Submit an information request form on the DCS website, or give them a call to find out even more about AZ foster care.

Official State Agency: Arizona Department of Child Safety
Website: https://dcs.az.gov/foster
Phone Number: 520-872-9463

Sources

Accessed on February 2, 2026. https://dcs.az.gov/foster
Accessed on February 2, 2026. https://www.azafap.org/
Accessed on February 5, 2026. https://www.aask-az.org/