Hi all,
Does anyone know what are the regulations for fostering children if you have firearms in the home? This is a cause that I would like to look into supporting, but I have heard that if you own firearms, you may not be allowed to foster children.
Any advice or shared experience on this topic would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you know of any worthy organizations that you could financial support, please feel free to share.
Thank you!
My only experience with foster care is from many decades ago when my parents fostered quite a few teenagers over a several year period. So I don’t have any input on current restrictions.
I suspect the restrictions on fostering while owning firearms would vary by State or even local offices.
The one thing I would strongly recommend if it is allowed is to have very secure firearm storage. A lot of these kids have been through a lot of crap and they don’t always make the best decisions. Plus many of them can be very resourceful when it comes to getting into trouble.
We had a few foster siblings who were damaged beyond repair. Almost all of them were very challenging but with a lot of support and patience some of them were able to get their lives on track and we are still in touch with them today.
I don’t have the answer to that, however, in my early 20s my best friend lived just a couple houses from a foster home.
We both felt for those kids, the “parents” were literally just using them as tax incentives and didn’t give two shits about the children.
All of them were abused at some point (we had our suspicions about sexual abuse, but the kids wouldn’t directly say it happened, only hints. (So yes))
Given the conditions those kids lived in and the trauma they experienced, I can’t say having a firearm in that “home” would’ve been a good thing.
I’m not saying there aren’t good foster homes out there, just quoting my own observations of the one I saw.
Good luck if this is a venture you intend on embarking upon!
Just understand the ones you take in may well already be broken by the system.
I would call one of the Attorneys this site uses maybe they could point you in the right direction
I suspect this will vary on a jurisdictional basis.
IIRC first time I read about this in the news was related to WA state. I doubt even California has restrictions
I know a family who fostered many troubled kids. It’s been 15 or more years since they did this. I know they had firearms in the home. They would not have done anything illegal.
Where they fostered, it was a county specific agency. That state has a no preemption law, but I suspect different agencies (especially private ones) could have their own rules for the foster home.
I know they went through some home inspections and I’m sure answered a lot of questions to qualify and maintain their status.
They called the cops to their own home frequently due to the behavior of the troubled youth that they fostered.
I used to be very close to this family and was in their home often. I had some great experiences with these kids, but was also spat upon, hit, etc.
Very insightful, thank you!
My wife and I fostered 2 boys starting in 2017 in LA County. We were able to have firearms under the following condition:
Firearms and ammo had to be stored in separate locations. Same room was okay but in different locked safes. The inspector just checked 1 time to see that they were separate. The regular social workers never looked or asked to see them again. They just checked to make sure we had food and reasonable living conditions.
Side note: We adopted those 2 guys and I have since trained them on the safe use of firearms.
What a beautiful story!!! Thank you for sharing, this is good to know. There seems to be a great need for foster families, so I am glad they did not discount you for owning firearms and that you are example of responsible ownership. Those are lucky boys!!
@Michael1884 Welcome to the community, and great to hear what you and your wife did for the boys.
Awesome stuff! Great work and welcome.
Welcome to the community @Michael1884
This requirement gets proposed a lot by anti self defense people. I just don’t understand the benefits of it. If a criminal, or child up to no good, can get into one safe they can get into two. Especially since most people can’t afford two high quality safes and will just end up storing the ammo in an easier to access second locking container. Or maybe it forces some people to buy two cheaper and easier to break into safes.
The only thing I see this requirement doing is making it impossible to access your firearm in time to stop home invaders from harming your family.
Welcome back TB and Michael (1st time) to the USCCA
You are right where you are supposed to be
Good Luck on your Quest TB, It’s an Honor to meet you
and
Michael: Well also an Honor and Good on you for your (2) Boy’s!
Where We Go 1 We Go All
And you both PROVED that here Today!
Happy slice of cake day. 
Happy anniversary!
Happy anniversary today!