Nominate your peers for our NFPA awards!

We're looking for a few good people who have gone beyond the call of duty to improve the world of foster care. Do you know someone in your family, your neighborhood, your city or your state who deserves to be honored? Nominate them for an NFPA award!

Our 2014 award categories are:

NFPA Foster Family of the Year Award
The Foster Family of the Year Award recognizes a foster family that has gone above and beyond the call of duty to ensure the safety, permanence and well-being for the children in their care.

NFPA State Association of the Year Award
The State Association of the Year Award recognizes an NFPA state affiliate that has provided extraordinary service and resources to the families it serves.

NFPA Local Association of the Year Award
The Local Association of the Year Award recognizes an NFPA local affiliate that has provided extraordinary service and resources to the families it serves.

NFPA Advocate of the Year Award
The Advocate of the Year Award recognizes a recipient (person or organization) who has made outstanding strides to advocate for foster parents and/or children in care.

NFPA Social Worker of the Year Award
The Social Worker of the Year Award recognizes an exceptional direct services worker in a public or private child-placing agency.

Gordon Evans Merit Award for Service to NFPA
The Gordon Evans Merit Award for Service to NFPA, selected by the Board of Directors, recognizes an NFPA board member for noteworthy service to NFPA.


The awards will be presented at the NFPA/FSFAPA National Conference June 5-8, 2014 in Orlando, Florida, and NFPA will waive conference fees for award winners to attend workshops and events. Find out more on our conference page or go directly to the award nominations page.

Deadline is March 28.

From our mailbag: University of Phoenix scholarship thanks

Take a peek at this great letter of thanks from our mailbag:

Hello President Clements,
I was  awarded a full tuition scholarship by the National Foster Parent Association in the spring of 2013. I am now in my third course of the Masters in Psychology program at the University of Phoenix. 

Please express to the leadership of NFPA my deep appreciation for this opportunity to pursue an advanced degree. It would not otherwise be possible for me to earn a graduate degree. It is my sincere hope that this NFPA scholarship program will continue for a very long time. There is no doubt in my mind that it is making some dreams come true. 

It is my hope to apply what I learn in my career and in my leadership role in the Vermont Foster and Adoptive Parent Association.

Sincerely, 

Dan Boyce
Vermont Foster & Adoptive Families Association
Board Member at Large

2014 NFPA Youth Scholarship application now available!

The National Foster Parent Association (NFPA) Youth Scholarship Fund was established to benefit foster, adoptive and birth children of NFPA members. Up to five scholarships are awarded annually based on available funds.

Visit NFPA's Youth Scholarship page for more information. Deadline to apply is March 14, 2014.

Play It Forward: Win a free CedarWorks playset!

Every kid "just wants to have fun." Give your children in care a chance to have fun on a beautiful and sturdy playset by participating in the Play It Forward contest!

CedarWorks created the Play It Forward program to give back to those who go above and beyond each day to bring hope to the lives of young people. The company has teamed up with the National Foster Parent Association to provide lucky foster families across the United States with CedarWorks playsets.

Here's how to enter:

Help us identify media that portrays foster parents in a negative light

NFPA, along with North American Council on Adoptable Children and Generations United, is working on a grant to help state and local associations to better meet the needs of foster, adoptive and kinship caregivers. The grant will help us advocate for better laws, policies and practices, and help us improve the image of foster parents and foster care in general.

One of the components of the grant is to obtain an accurate picture of what people are producing, writing and filming in regard to foster care and foster parents. We need to identify television shows and/or movies that have portrayed foster parents/foster families in a negative perspective.

Taxes and foster/adoptive parenting

Josh Kroll, with the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC), recently shared this post with NFPA on Facebook:

I have had a few questions recently about taxes and foster/adoptive parenting.

1. Claiming children as dependents - foster parents as well as adoptive parents may be able to claim children as dependents. To claim the children you must meet all five tests - age, relationship (foster and adoptive parents are just fine), residency, support and joint filing tests.

The two big issues are support and residency. In 2005 the support test changed to the child can't provide more than half of their own support--foster care payments are not support provided by the child (and subsidy should be treated the same way). Residency is the other big issue, you have to have the child with you more than half the year (if the child was born or died during the year, then more than half of the year that they are alive).