Become a Caregiver
DHS provides many opportunities for individuals to open their home and agree to care for a child, adult or older adult who may or not be related. The following links provide details about each of the programs.
Foster Parent for Child(ren)
Foster Parent(s) care for a child until his or her parent(s) can resume full responsibility, or until a permanent home is found. Foster Parent(s) commit to helping a child through a difficult period. It is a job for people who can provide love and guidance...and then let go.
Adoptive Parent for Child(ren)
In permanency planning, nothing is more important than the child’s safety and well being. When best efforts fail to ensure that children can safely remain in, or return to their birth families, adoption provides a means of achieving permanency, often with a family the children know—relatives or foster parents.
Adult Foster Care (Domiciliary Care)
Adult foster care matches people who cannot live independently with families who are willing to open their homes and provide a caring environment. Those who may need placement include the elderly and/or mentally ill, mentally retarded, blind or disabled adult, aged 18 years or over.
Senior Companion
Provides regular visits and assistance to older adults in their home. Companions may assist with simple daily activities, serve as an escort for shopping, medical, or social outings, or provide caregiver relief.
Senior Companion Program brochure
Caregiver Respite
The Family Caregiver Support Program is designed to reduce caregiver stress and reinforce the care that they provide to their family members. The program supports caregivers who are caring for functionally impaired relatives, ages 60 years and over, and 18-59 year-olds with a medical diagnosis of an irreversible dementia.
Caregiver Champions is a volunteer-powered, grassroots effort to reduce the stress of caregiving through learning circles where experts share vital information about coping strategies, tools and resources in our community.
Family Living Providers
Elizabeth Poshard-Roos 412-253-1594 or eroos@alleghenycounty.us
Persons with mental retardation, whose care needs may fall anywhere along the continuum of intensities, are welcomed by an unrelated individual or family to share their home and life. These individuals/families undergo training to prepare them to offer appropriate supports. The family or individual must comply with the policies, procedures, and regulations of the provider agency, the county and the state, which includes providing a safe, nurturing, and healthy environment in which the person has choice.