Tennessee foster care and adoption guidelines

Thank you for considering foster care or adoption as an option for your family. Below you will find more information about foster care and adoption requirements in Tennessee.

State contact information

To learn more about becoming a foster parent, please call the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (DCS) at 877-DCS-KIDS (877-327-5437) or submit an inquiry form online.

If you’re interested in adoption only, please call 931-265-8369.

Foster and adoption licensing requirements

Tennessee's foster parents are dually approved to foster and adopt. This allows foster parents to adopt the child they are fostering should the child become available for adoption.

To be approved as a foster-adoptive parent in Tennessee you:

Can be married, single or divorced
May or may not have other children
Can own or rent where you live
Can work full-time
Must be at least 21 years of age
Must be a resident of the state of Tennessee
Must be fingerprinted and pass a background check
Must be able to meet the financial needs of your family

To prepare for your role as foster parent, you will learn effective tools and parenting methods to work with the children in foster care as well as gain an understanding of the different challenges faced by children in state custody.

Through the pre-approval TN KEY (Knowledge Empowers You) training, you will learn how foster parents work with DCS to improve the lives of children, information about current DCS policies on caring for children in custody, and ultimately if foster parenting is right for you. Whether you want to provide a temporary home for children in need or have the ultimate goal of adoption, TN KEY training will help prepare you for the unique challenges and rewards of becoming a foster parent.

Visit the foster parent training information page for more information.

Are you interested only in adopting?

If so, please understand that the TN DCS does not recruit adopt-only homes. Approximately 80 percent of the children who are adopted from foster care in Tennessee are adopted by their foster parents. DCS practice is to work with individuals who sign up to become foster parents. Then, if a child in DCS custody becomes available for adoption, the foster family caring for that child is given the opportunity to adopt.

To be considered to adopt a child who is available for adoption without becoming a traditional foster parent, you will need to:

Obtain a home study for adoption from foster care written by a private licensed child placing agency.
Submit an inquiry for a specific child.

After you have been matched as the adoptive parent for a Tennessee child, you can receive TN KEY training through DCS. To adopt a child from another state, you will need to complete TN KEY training through a private agency.

To learn more about adopting children from foster care, visit the Adoption section on the DCS website.

Costs to foster and adopt

It is free to foster.

The legal fees at the very end of the process are the only fees that you will pay if you work with your local DCS office to complete the adoption process and if the child is waiting in Tennessee.

If you adopt a child from another state, there may be fees regardless of whether you work with your local DCS office or a private agency. The fee schedule for private agencies will likely be larger. You can read more about private agency fees here.

It may be possible for the child’s state to purchase the services of your DCS office or private agency. When you adopt children who are in foster care and are eligible for adoption-assistance subsidy, you may be eligible for reimbursement of some nonrecurring adoption costs, such as attorney and court fees.

Agency contact information

For more information about becoming a foster parent in Tennessee, please call 877-DCS-KIDS (877-327-5437). For questions about adoption from foster care in Tennessee, call 931-265-8369. Read more about private agency fees here.

Post-adoption support services

See a comprehensive list of post-adoption and guardianship support services and support groups available to families who live in Tennessee.

Information on children

Children enter foster care because their birth families cannot safely care for them.

On average, there are approximately 7,500 children in foster care and around 350 children in full guardianship (available for adoption) in Tennessee who don’t have an identified adoptive home. Approximately 1,000 children age out of care in Tennessee every year.

To learn more about TN’s children, please visit TN state page on AdoptUSKids, Parent a Child, and Tennessee Kids Belong.