8,841
Children in Out-of-Home Care
Kentucky children currently have active out-of-home care placements.
Become a Foster Parent
Open Your Home.
Open Your Home.
Change a Life.
You do not need to be a perfect parent to make an extraordinary difference. Children across Kentucky need safe, stable families willing to care for them during one of the hardest seasons of their lives.
Sunrise Children's Services is a private child-placing agency serving children and families across Kentucky. We partner with the Kentucky Department for Community Based Services while maintaining our own professional team, agency standards, foster family approval process, training, placement support, and continuum of care.
When you foster through Sunrise, our team will prepare you, support you, and walk beside you every step of the way.
- Personal guidance from a Sunrise team
- Support accessible 24 hours a day
- Training and preparation before placement
- A continuum of care for your family
You don't have to know everything.
You just have to be willing to take the first step.
Kentucky Children Need Families
The Need Is Real
Behind every number is a child who needs safety, stability, encouragement, and someone willing to show up.
10
Average Age
The average current age of a child in out-of-home care in Kentucky.
2,094
Goal of Adoption
Kentucky children currently have adoption as their permanency goal.
Kentucky Foster Care Snapshot — May 3, 2026. View Kentucky CHFS source
Real Family Life
Foster Parenting Is Built in Everyday Moments.
Children do not just need a place to stay. They need people who show up, day after day. From soccer games and homework help to bedtime stories and weekend adventures, ordinary moments can become the places where trust grows and healing begins.
You don't need to be perfect. You need a willing heart, a safe home, and a team beside you.
Start the Process
What Foster Care Really Means
Foster Care Is About Family
Foster care gives a child a temporary, safe home while their family works toward reunification. As a foster parent, you are not being asked to erase a child's story or replace the people they love.
You are being asked to step into that story with compassion — providing stability, encouragement, structure, and care while a family works toward becoming whole again.
57%
of Kentucky children in out-of-home care had reunification
as their permanency goal in the May 2026 statewide snapshot.
Could I Foster?
You May Be Surprised Who Can
You do not need a perfect house or a perfect life. You need the ability and commitment to provide a child with a safe, stable home.
Be 21 or Older
To foster through Sunrise, applicants must be at least 21 years old, consistent with Kentucky certification requirements.
Be Financially Stable
Your household should have income sufficient to meet your family’s existing needs without depending on foster care assistance.
Provide a Safe Home
To foster through Sunrise, you may rent or own. Your home must provide adequate space and meet applicable safety and health requirements.
Be Ready to Care
Foster parents must be physically and mentally able to provide safe, dependable care for a child.
Complete Background Checks
Adults in the home complete required criminal, FBI, sex offender registry, and child abuse registry checks.
Complete Training
Applicants complete required preparation, web-based training, paperwork, and the home study process.
Choosing Sunrise
Sunrise Foster Home Standards
Sunrise evaluates prospective foster families who choose to foster through our agency. Our approval process incorporates applicable Kentucky certification requirements along with Sunrise's own agency standards, policies, and professional assessment.
Be a Kentucky resident.
Have a valid Commonwealth of Kentucky driver’s license.
Have reliable transportation and automobile insurance.
Maintain a safe home with adequate space for a child or additional child.
Be willing to complete all required background checks, pre-service training, and the home study process.
Be physically and mentally able to provide care for children.
If married, have been continuously married to and living with your current spouse for at least one year. Under Sunrise’s current foster home standards, cohabitating couples are not permitted.
Not sure whether you meet every requirement? You don't have to figure it out alone.
Start a Conversation
How It Works
From Interested to Ready
Becoming a foster parent takes preparation, but you will not walk through the process by yourself.
Start the Conversation
Complete the Sunrise inquiry form. This begins a conversation — not a commitment to accept a placement.
Meet the Team
Learn more about fostering, talk through your questions, and determine whether Sunrise is the right fit for your family.
Complete Training
Your Sunrise team guides you through required preparation and web-based pre-service training designed to help you understand the needs of children in care and prepare for placement.
Complete Your Home Study
Your Sunrise team helps you work through documentation, interviews, background checks, and evaluation of your home.
Become Approved
Once the Sunrise approval process is complete, your family can become an approved Sunrise foster home.
Welcome a Child
Sunrise works to find placements that fit your family's strengths and remains beside you after a child arrives.
How long does it take?
The training, evaluation, and approval process normally takes approximately six to nine months. Your individual timeline may vary.
The Sunrise Difference
You Foster.
You Foster.
We Stand With You.
The child may be placed in your home, but foster care should never feel like something your family has to carry alone.
A Christ-Centered Agency. Our mission is deeper than placement. We believe caring for vulnerable children and strengthening families is a calling to serve a higher purpose. That commitment shapes how we support foster parents, care for children, and walk with families through every season.
24/7 Support
Questions and challenges do not only happen during business hours. Your Sunrise team is accessible around the clock.
A Team Who Knows You
Build relationships with professionals who know your family, understand your placement, and can help you navigate the journey.
Training & Preparation
We help prepare you to understand trauma, behaviors, transitions, and the unique needs children may bring with them.
Continuum of Care
Through Sunrise Family Services counseling, additional resources, and business partnerships, your family can access support that reaches beyond placement and helps meet practical, emotional, and family needs along the way.
Support for Sunrise Foster Families
Resources for the Journey
Daily financial assistance
Medical coverage for children
Daycare assistance
Ongoing training
Respite care
Support services
What Stops People From Starting?
Foster Care: Myth vs. Reality
Some of the things people assume would disqualify them from fostering actually don't.
“I have to own a big house.”
Reality
You do not have to own your home to foster through Sunrise. Renters may qualify when the home provides adequate space, has appropriate landlord approval, and meets applicable safety standards.
“I can't foster because I work.”
Reality
Working parents can foster through Sunrise. Many foster families balance careers, school schedules, appointments, and family life. Your Sunrise team will help you think through the practical details, and daycare assistance may be available for eligible foster families.
“I need to know how to handle everything first.”
Reality
Training, your home study, and your Sunrise team are designed to prepare and support you along the way.
Foster to Adopt
Sometimes Temporary Care Becomes Forever
Foster care begins with the goal of providing temporary care and supporting reunification. But sometimes a court determines that returning home is no longer possible.
When a child's permanency goal changes to adoption, a foster family may have the opportunity to become that child's forever family.
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions Are Part of the Process
You should have questions. Here are answers to some of the things prospective foster parents ask us most often.
Do I have to own my home to become a foster parent?
No. You do not have to own your home to foster through Sunrise. Renters may qualify when the home provides adequate space, has appropriate landlord approval, and meets applicable safety requirements.
Can I foster if I work full-time?
Yes. Working parents can foster through Sunrise. Daycare assistance may be available for eligible foster families.
Do I have to be married?
Both single and married applicants may qualify to foster through Sunrise. Sunrise maintains agency-specific household standards. Under our current standards, cohabitating couples are not permitted, and married applicants must have been continuously married to and living with their current spouse for at least one year.
How long does it take to become a foster parent?
The Sunrise training, evaluation, and approval process normally takes approximately six to nine months. Every family is different, and your Sunrise team will help you understand your individual timeline.
What training is required?
Foster families complete required pre-service preparation and web-based training as part of the approval process. Your Sunrise team guides you through each requirement and provides ongoing training after approval.
Can I choose what placements I am comfortable accepting?
Yes. Placement decisions should consider the needs of the child and the strengths, experience, and circumstances of the foster family. Your Sunrise team will talk with you about the types of placements your family is prepared to support.
Will I receive financial support for a foster child?
Financial and practical supports are available to help meet the needs of children placed in foster care. Depending on eligibility and a child’s individual needs, these may include a daily foster care rate, medical coverage, daycare assistance, and other supports. Your Sunrise team will help you understand what applies to your placement.
What support will Sunrise provide after a child is placed?
You are not expected to navigate foster care alone. Sunrise provides a team that walks alongside foster families, including support accessible 24 hours a day. Families can also connect with Sunrise Family Services counseling and other resources for a broader continuum of care.
How long does a foster placement last?
Every situation is different. A placement may be very short or may last much longer. Foster care is temporary care, and the primary goal is to help children safely reunify with their birth families whenever possible.
Can fostering eventually lead to adoption?
Sometimes. Foster care begins as temporary care with reunification as the goal. If a court later determines that reunification is not possible and the child’s permanency goal changes to adoption, a foster family may have the opportunity to pursue adoption.
What if I am interested but not sure I am ready?
That is exactly what the first conversation is for. Starting the process does not mean you have all the answers or that you are committing to accept a placement. It gives you an opportunity to ask questions and determine whether fostering could be right for your family.
Sunrise Children's Services is a private child-placing agency that partners with the Kentucky Department for Community Based Services to serve children and families. Prospective Sunrise foster families are evaluated according to applicable Kentucky certification requirements as well as Sunrise's own agency standards, policies, and professional assessment. View Kentucky certification information
Take the First Step
A Child Doesn't Need You to Have All the Answers. They Need Someone Willing to Say Yes.
Starting the process does not commit you to becoming a foster parent. It starts a conversation with Sunrise about whether fostering could be right for your family.
Start the ProcessNo obligation. Ask questions. Meet our team. Discover what's possible.