Foster Care and Adoption Services

Imagine losing your home, family, and your job all in one day. This is the trauma that a child who is placed in foster care experiences on the day they were removed from their home and every time after that day when they are moved to a new home, a new family, a new placement.

GATEWAYS established the first child placement services in the State of Washington, over 120 years ago, with the idea that families would remain a vital part of their child's life in whatever way made sense. We provided placement services for 50 years before the state got involved and for decades thereafter we continued to work with the state to return children to their biological families or find them good permanent homes if and when that was not an option.

On January 15, 2011, we closed the door on placement services.

Why?

At GATEWAYS we worked hard to minimize the disruptions in placement that a child experiences in foster care and to provide the type of care services that every child needs and deserves - a safe, nurturing and stable environment that ends the cycle of poverty, abuse and neglect. After reviewing the events in other states where a managed care system has been adopted for foster care placement and support services, we are concerned that recent changes in the state of Washington child welfare system will bankrupt nonprofit social service agencies like ours, cause good foster homes to close and further disrupt the ability of children to find permanent and nurturning homes. At GATEWAYS for Youth and Families, we no longer certify people to become licensed foster parents, but we can and do provide support to foster families through our work with FPAWS. To read more about the decision to close our placement services, the problems associated with managed foster care or child welfare services, check out the press release and related announcements on our news and events page.

Supporting impoverished families, homeless children and young people who are struggling to find their place in life remains the vital mission of Gateways for Youth and Families.

That is why we support the efforts to recruit, train and support foster parents through our work with the Foster Parent Association of Washington State and the National Foster Parent Association.

In recent years, the number of foster homes has decreased, while the number of children needing foster care has increased dramatically.

If you are interested in becoming a foster parent, or you are already a foster parent or kinship care provider in need of assistance, please check out the FPAWS website at www.fpaws.org(FPAWS).