Child care comes with a cost — you need to provide things like food and other needs. Learn how much Alabama pays foster parents to help them provide care.
Becoming a foster parent in Alabama means making a difference in the life of a child in care.
However, child care comes with a cost — you need to provide things like food and other needs. Hobbies and interests for children in care often come with a cost, too. Potential foster parents might worry about whether they can afford to be a foster parent with the expenses of fostering.
While it’s true that you need to have a stable income to be a foster parent in Alabama, there is a monthly stipend provided by the state for foster parents.
This money is a small stipend meant to help cover the cost of taking care of a new family member. It is not payment for a job, or a reason to foster, just some help for foster parents who already give so much.
So, while most people will search for things like how much does foster care pay in Alabama? We prefer to talk about it in a different way that is closer to the actual experience.
We’ll cover that, along with some other information about foster care pay. But first, let’s talk about who can foster in Alabama.
There’s a set of requirements in Alabama that people who want to foster need to meet.
Here are those requirements:
Now that we know who can become a foster parent in Alabama, let’s look at how the state handles its monthly stipend for foster parents.
In the state of Alabama, foster parents are given a monthly payment between $527 and $571 to help cover the costs of caring for foster children.
Remember though: this money needs to go toward the day-to-day costs of raising a child in care. Foster parents need to provide many different things for children that cost money, including:
The Alabama foster care stipend, combined with a foster parent’s ability to show stable income, should help them provide these needs to children in care.
However, there are some more supports available to foster parents.
Foster parents in Alabama receive some support outside of a basic stipend as well.
For example, daycare expenses — in Alabama, any daycare expenses are covered for children who aren’t old enough to go to school yet and aren’t living with a stay-at-home parent. The state has a list of approved daycares for this benefit.
Foster parents in Alabama also get 7 days of relief support care every year. During this time, children in care will stay with another licensed foster parent.
Lastly, Medicaid in the state of Alabama will cover any medical or dental costs for a child in care. This gives a major lift to foster parents since these costs can be expensive!
Not every foster parent gets paid the same amount — there are two things that influence the monthly stipend:
In Alabama, the base amount that foster parents are given every month goes up as a child in care gets older and has more needs. This is usually around:
There’s also their medical needs. Some children in care may need different support because of complex medical needs, and these needs can end up costing foster parents more. In these cases, foster parents may be given extra to be able to provide the best possible care for their children.
Compared to the rest of the US, the amount given to foster parents in Alabama ranks somewhere in the middle — around half of the states give foster parents more, and the other half gives less.
For example, California gives the highest monthly payment to their foster parents at just over $1000 a month.
However, on the bottom end of the scale is Utah with a monthly stipend of around $200.
Certain factors, like the cost of living, may end up affecting the amount given to foster parents throughout the US — California’s cost of living is much higher compared to many other states.
Foster parents aren’t paid for the gift of love and time they give the children in their care, and it isn’t a job. Being a foster parent is a life-changing experience that kids in care will never forget. We hope this information will help you feel confident that you can afford the expenses of fostering a child in need in Alabama!
No matter where you are in your journey to becoming a foster parent in Alabama, it's important to get the support you need.
You're never alone. Get the support you need every step of the way with The Beginners Guide to Foster Care!
You’ll get an understanding of foster care basics, actionable tips to connect with children in care, and much more.
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