Become a Foster Parent With CHOR Youth and Family Services
CHOR Youth & Family Services places children and teens with foster families in Berks County and surrounding areas, and trains and supports the adults who open their homes. Foster care provides temporary care for children who cannot remain safely in their own homes, and most children enter care because of abuse or neglect. The goal is a treatment-focused program in a safe, supportive family environment where children feel loved while they await reunification with their birth families. CHOR foster families care for children from birth to age 21.
To become a foster parent, you must meet these requirements: - Be at least 21 years old and in good physical and emotional health, verified by a medical exam - Have a stable, reliable income that covers your household expenses before a child comes into your home - Complete a Child Abuse Clearance, a Pennsylvania Criminal Background Check and FBI Fingerprinting for every household member age 18 and older - Provide three non-relative references who can speak to your character and your ability to care for children - Complete pre-service foster parent training
You do not need to own your home, but you must have adequate space for a child, including a bed and a dresser or designated area for their personal belongings. A foster child can often share a bedroom with your biological child, though children over age five cannot share a bedroom with a child of the opposite gender, some children need their own room for safety or therapeutic reasons, and a foster child may not be placed in a walk-through bedroom. CHOR staff assess your home during the licensing process.
CHOR runs three tracks. Foster Care offers safe, supportive homes for children and teens from birth to age 21, with a focus on family reunification and with 24/7 support, training and case management for approved families. Kinship Care supports relatives or close family friends caring for a child, with guidance, training and resources. Specialized Foster Care provides specialized resource families and In-Home Interventionist services for clients with maladaptive sexual behaviors and/or co-occurring mental health disorders, and is Sanctuary trauma trained.
Approved families work closely with a dedicated Case Manager and have access to 24-hour emergency on-call support, clinicians and a consulting psychiatrist. The reimbursement you receive for caring for a foster child is not considered income and is not taxable; it is meant to help cover the costs of the child's needs. All children and youth in foster care are covered by medical assistance (Medicaid), which provides health, dental, vision and behavioral health services. If your home is outside the child's original school district, Case Managers help with school enrollment.
The first step is to contact a Foster Care Specialist, who will guide you through the application and certification process, answer your questions and provide training and support. After training and approval as a resource parent, you are matched with a child. CHOR also holds free, no-obligation information sessions about the foster care program; the page does not list a current date or place for the next one, so ask when you call. To ask questions or register, call Jen at 610-655-5555. You can also write to jhorrocks@choreading.org.
CHOR's Main Campus, The Children's Home of Reading, is at 1010 Centre Avenue, Reading, PA 19601, and provides foster, adoption and residential treatment programs. Safeguards Foster Care is at 220 N 5th Street, Reading, PA 19601, 610-372-1484. The general agency number for any question is 610-478-8266. The page does not give office hours or say whether you can walk in, so call first.
A few things to expect. Foster care is meant to be temporary, and a child may leave to reunify with birth parents or to live with a relative; concurrent planning means working toward reunification while also exploring permanent options such as adoption. Resource parents are responsible for transporting foster children to and from visits with birth parents, court hearings, medical and dental appointments, therapy sessions and extracurricular activities; CHOR staff may occasionally assist, but that help is limited. You are not present during a child's visits with birth parents. You may say no to a referral, and you may request a child's removal by giving written 30-day notice. Sometimes a family says yes to a referral and the child is still not placed, for example when the county agency chooses a home closer to the birth parents. The page does not say whether there is any cost to apply, so ask.
Source: choryfs.org/foster-care, read September 18, 2026.
The details
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BI Fingerprinting Provide three non-relative references who can speak to your character and ability to care for children Complete pre-service foster parent training
In CHOR Youth & Family Services’s words
Foster care provides temporary care for children who cannot remain safely in their own homes. Most children enter foster care due to abuse or neglect. Our goal is to offer a treatment-focused program within a safe, supportive family environment—where children feel loved as they await reunification with their birth families. Our foster families support children from birth to age 21, providing care in Berks County and surrounding areas. They work closely with a dedicated Case Manager and have…
Other sites
- Safeguards Foster Care, 220 N 5th Street, Reading, PA 19601
Organization
CHOR Youth & Family Services
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This listing summarizes publicly available information from choryfs.org/foster-care. Last recorded review: September 18, 2026. Contact the provider to confirm eligibility, hours and availability before you go. If something here is wrong, tell us.