Can you open your heart and your home to a needy child?

• Are you able to become part of a treatment team to assist a child and his/her family to resolve difficulties and create a safe place to live?
• Can you commit to being a role model for a parent to improve their ability to care for their children and help them to grow and develop?
• Can you commit to caring for a child who has experienced abuse or neglect?

Community Maternity Services is seeking families who are interested in providing a temporary home for children who have been abused or neglected. Our program provides care for infants who are waiting to meet their adoptive parents, children 0-12 whose parents are working to create a safe environment for their child/dren to return to and pregnant and parenting adolescents who need a safe home environment where they can parent their child with a supportive role model present.

If you feel you hold the key to a child’s future and want to explore being a foster parent, contact Susan Natale at (518) 482-8836. CMS accepts applicants from the 14 counties of the Diocese of Albany.

Some Characteristics of Successful Foster Parents:

Flexibility, patience, sense of humor; ability to recognize and respond to a child's needs and to not expect immediate affection from that child; family roles that are not strictly traditional; ability to be a role model for parents, and ability to utilize available resources.

CMS provides the following services to foster parents:

• Certification process.
• On-going training.
• Continuous Support - 24 hour on-call staff, 7 days a week.
• Generous stipend.

Community Maternity Services has trained and certified foster parents since the 1970's. Over the years, our focus has expanded from foster care for newborns, to foster care for healthy children and children with special needs from newborn to age 12.

CMS Foster Care

Care of Children, newborn to age 2. Some children could be drug exposed, premature, or have other medical needs. This is a temporary care of children being placed in a CMS adaptive home.

CMS Special Needs Foster Care

Children ages 4 to 12. These are children who have been removed from their birth-family home due to abuse or neglectful situations. Children may have special physical, medical, or emotional needs.