• Caring for a child until the parents can resume responsibility or until a relative or adoptive family can be found
• A commitment to helping a child through a difficult time
• Emergency care for a month or less
• Day-to-day care for a longer period

• Respite Care for foster children for a short, specified period of time to provide relief to a family in crisis or to help support foster families who are in need of relief
• Therapeutic Foster Care for foster children who are medically fragile; diagnosed with a severe emotional illness; developmentally disabled or handicapped; or at a high risk for, or currently in, an institutional placement
• Restrictive Care for a specifically-identified foster child who already is in foster care; may be a relative, neighbor or a friend of the family

Adoption is a legal, permanent, and life-long commitment to care for a child.