Foster Parent Training Requirements in Indiana

Pre-service and continuing education rules for licensed foster, resource and kinship caregivers, compiled from state administrative code and agency policy.

Verified as of 5 September 2026 Next review due 1 December 2026

Indiana

Sources conflict — verify
Pre-service
Not less than 10 hours, delivered as RAPT — Introduction to DCS 3 hours, Effects of Abuse and Neglect 3 hours online, and Discipline, Attachment and Effects of Care Giving on the Family 4 hours. A therapeutic certificate through a licensed child placing agency requires 20 hours. Pre-service older than four years must be retaken.
Ongoing continuing education
Not less than 15 hours annually; 20 hours for therapeutic certification. A maximum of 8 hours may be online, books or video; the rest must be face to face. Up to 5 hours completed in the final three months of a year may carry forward. First aid, CPR for infant, child and adult, and universal precautions must be continuously maintained but do NOT count toward in-service hours.
Renewal term
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.
Kinship difference
Limited and unclear. CONFLICT: the relative adoption-module waiver present in policy 12.05 version 5 (2020) is absent from version 7 effective 1 January 2026, and it is unresolved whether it was retired, relocated, or simply not surfaced. The 10-hour pre-service and 15-hour annual requirements are not reduced for licensed relatives in any source located.
Conflict notes
The relative adoption-module waiver present in policy 12.05 version 5 (2020) is absent from version 7 effective 1 January 2026, and it is unresolved whether it was retired, relocated, or simply not surfaced.