[BethanyB]

Are you just fostering or are you fost/adopt? Either way, there is always a chance of reunification but still the chances are higher for adoption when you do fost/adopt.

You can't put a foster child in an unlicensed home just like you can't be an unlicensed foster parent. When a home is licensed the home is evaluated and the person/people in the home are given a background check. This is very important for foster children as they have been taken from their bio parents to be placed into a safer environment. The state has to make sure that daycare providers have been checked out like anyone else.

I do not believe it is hard to be licensed though. I would call the local agency your county uses (mine is Childcare Connections) and ask what someone needs to do to be licensed.

Keep in mind that the stipend for a home provider is even lower than a facility. For instance I found a home provider who was licensed when my son was born. The only paid like 500 per month and I had to pay the girl the rest. When I switched him to a facility, they paid like 620 or something. It is a BIG help but considering many facilities cost between 800 and 1100 dollars per month per child, you still end up paying out of pocket.

But you also get the monthly subsidy on top of the childcare subsidy, so there is always that.

Edited to add: I could not find anyone to just accept the subsidy and not require the rest paid by me, except for the YMCA. When I enrolled my son there they did not require me to pay the rest. They just took the subsidy. However I was not happy there and moved my kids.