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Our Kids

Children in Foster Care

Who Are Children in Foster Care?

  • Are ages 0-18.
  • May come by him/herself or may come with 3 other siblings!
  • Have been victims of abuse and/or neglect and have experienced trauma.
  • Have a variety of physical, mental health, emotional or behavioral needs.
  • Need long-term, short-term and sometimes adoptive homes.
  • May be coming to your home for their first placement or 15th placement.
  • Are children who need a safe, caring home while their families address barriers to reunification.
  • May come to your home with all of their belongings (including their pet fish) or with nothing at all.
  • May be apart of a large sibling group that they need to be placed with.
  • May have siblings that are not placed with.
  • May leave from your home to go to their parents, relatives or sometimes emancipate.
  • Are often behind in school due to their many moves, lack of parental support or truancy issues.
  • May be apart of or exploring the LGBTQ+ community.
  • May be exploring or secure in their gender expression. 
  • Are from your neighborhood, town or county. 
  • May have no idea what it is like to go camping and make a s’more.
Foster a Child 0-12 Years

Fostering a young child or sibling group means providing them with a home and temporary family while their biological family is taking the time to make positive life choices in the best interest of their child(ren).  Fostering a young child also means understanding every child wants to be with its birth family, no matter what.

Our children do not need to be rescued – but they do need to know someone cares about them, will keep them safe and provide for all of their needs – and will above all, work WITH their biological parents, not AGAINST them. Our children need you to become a foster parent who is not afraid to invite their parents to their birthday party or encourage phone calls with their grandma back East. Our children need foster parents who understand the importance of sibling contact and do everything they can to ensure visits happen.

Kids Crossing needs individuals, couples, or families who love the energy and comedy children ages 0-12 bring! In return, our infants, toddlers and school aged children need the love and structure your home can provide. Our children also need supervision to ensure they stay safe and foster parents who will advocate for their best interests. Kids Crossing welcomes all caring adults to help our children develop their educational foundation and to provide our children with activities and opportunities to keep their minds actively growing and challenged!

Our children need you, become a foster parent today! 

 

Foster a Teen

Fostering Teenagers

Do you love the challenge of working with teenagers? Are you flexible?  Do you have a sense of humor? Are you able to stay calm when our teens do their best to push your buttons? Are you willing to, like, really commit? Fostering a teenager is right for you!

Kids Crossing is looking for individuals, couples, and families to care for children in foster care, including teenagers, ages 13 to 18. Teenagers involved in the child welfare system need temporary and long-term cargivers to show them unconditional commitment to help them develop the skills they need to be successful young adults. These teenagers may be runaways, struggling with substance abuse issues, sentenced to probation for criminal behavior, diagnosed with a mental health disorder, and/or they may not be motivated to attend school. These children in foster care may be stepping down from a higher level of care, such as a residential treatment facility or the Division of Youth Corrections, or they may be entering the child welfare system for the first time as a result of conflict at home. Teenagers need guidance as they work to achieve permanency by reunifying with parents and/or family members, or they may need to be taught the skills to successfully emancipate. Take the first step in bettering someone’s life and foster a teenager today. 

Above all, these teenagers need a stable home environment complete with structure, consistency, and love. 

Adoptions

Adoptions

The licensing process for foster-adopt parents is exactly the same as foster parents. Kids Crossing can help facilitate no-fee adoptions for foster parents who wish to adopt through the child welfare system.

Those who want to become a foster parent must be willing to support reunification of foster children with their biological parents and/or family members. Many families who come to us with the intention of adoption do end up adopting. However, it may take saying good-bye to many children placed in your home as they are successfully reunified with their biological families before one is able to stay. Adoption will happen, but likely it will not be in your time frame or with the first child you fall in love with.

Kids Crossing cannot assist you with out-of-state or private adoptions. Unless you are interested in a child who is “legally free”, meaning his/her parental rights have already been terminated, you must be willing to support the reunification process.

If you want to become a foster parent but are considering adoption and do not want to go through the risk of having foster children returned to their biological parents, we recommend you consider adopting older children, special needs children or sibling groups.

To view waiting children in the State of Colorado, click here for the Adoption Exchange Web site. Also, please check your local county website.

If you are interested in babies only, we recommend private or international adoption, as your chance for a baby is better guaranteed through these types of agencies.

If you adopt a child through the child welfare system, Medicaid (covering Medical, Dental and Mental Health care) stays with the child until he/she turns 18 years of age. Medicaid is always secondary to your private insurance. Often with children adopted through the child welfare system who do have special needs (i.e. emotional, behavioral, etc.), a subsidy may be negotiated and available to the adoptive parents until the child is 18 years old.

Kids Crossing is an agency founded BY foster parents, FOR foster parents.