Foster Parent Training Requirements
Pre-service and continuing education rules for licensed foster, resource and kinship caregivers, compiled from state administrative code and agency policy.
Confidence markers
Requirements by state
| State | Renewal term | Ongoing hours | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | Resource Family Approval does not expire; maintained by a periodic update process. | Minimum 8 hours annually per statute | Sources conflict — verify |
| Florida | 1 year by default; a 3-year licence is available to homes licensed the previous three consecutive years with no verified findings and clear background checks. | Level II, the standard non-child-specific home, 8 hours a year | No hour figure published |
| Georgia | Every 2 years, and no home may hold more than 24 months of approval. | A minimum of 15 hours of Continued Parent Development each calendar year, per caregiver | Stated in rule or current policy |
| Indiana | 4 years, with annual reviews in between — note the licence runs four years while the continuing education requirement stays annual, the widest mismatch of the twelve states. | Not less than 15 hours annually; 20 hours for therapeutic certification | Sources conflict — verify |
| Michigan | 2 years for a regular licence; a 3-year extended licence has been available since 1 January 2023 to homes licensed at least a year and in good standing. | 6 hours per year, per licensed foster parent | Sources conflict — verify |
| Missouri | 2 years, with relative homes reassessed on the same cycle. | 30 hours per two-year licensure period; Level B providers 32 hours | Sources conflict — verify |
| New York | Annual, via a written evaluation and oral review. | NO MINIMUM ANNUAL HOURS for standard certified or approved homes | No hour figure published |
| Ohio | Continuous certification since 1 January 2025 — homes apply between 90 and 30 days before the end of the fourth year of the initial certificate; four-year review cycle. | Family foster home 30 hours every two years; specialized 45 hours every two years | Stated in rule or current policy |
| Oregon | 2 years. | 30 hours per 2-year certification period, per parent | Sources conflict — verify |
| Pennsylvania | Annual; the agency must visit and inspect each foster family yearly for continued compliance. | 6 hours a year of agency-approved training | Stated in rule or current policy |
| Texas | No fixed term; annual evaluation, supervisory visits at least every three months. | THE CURRENT RULE CONTAINS NO ANNUAL HOUR REQUIREMENT for foster parents | Sources conflict — verify |
| Washington | 3 years. | 24 hours every three years | No hour figure published |
What this compilation shows
Four of the twelve states publish no pre-service hour figure at all, and New York does not use hours as a unit — its directive counts classes.
Five states currently contradict their own official sources.
The periods do not line up: annual, two-year and three-year cycles all appear, and the training clock differs from the licence clock in Georgia, Ohio and Indiana, so anyone assuming the training period equals the licence period will be wrong in at least three of these twelve states.
Kinship is handled four different ways — no distinction in California; timing accommodations without reduced hours in Georgia, Texas and Michigan; genuinely reduced requirements in Missouri and Florida; and case-by-case waivers in Ohio — so there is no general principle to apply and it has to be handled per state.