Foster Care

“The greatest gift someone can give a child is love and security…striving to give the children we serve stability and support is at the very core of what we do.”

It takes a special person to sacrifice the time, money, energy, and love that goes into nurturing a child separated from their family – all the while knowing that it may be temporary.  However, in many cases, the placement of the right child in the right home leads to permanent placement and a forever family.  Little Flower is committed to placing children in need into loving and secure homes where they will receive the love and support to reach their best potential.

Our ultimate goal is family reunification.  When that cannot happen, we recruit high-quality caregivers as Foster Parents.  We provide training for foster parents before, during, and after a child is placed in their home.  Support is available through a variety of services to ensure that the foster parent has the necessary resources to create the best home for the youth in their care.

We meet the needs of all children in our care through specialized programs, such as:

  • The Residential Treatment Center in Wading River responds to the special needs of youngsters with medical and behavioral difficulties.
  • The Preparing Youth for Adulthood program allows youth to participate in workshops designed to prepare them for life skills including higher education, vocational skill development, employment, positive relationship building, and household management.

Adoption Services

Little Flower is committed to finding permanent homes for as many children and adolescents as possible, because every child, regardless of their age, should have guidance, stability, and love. Interested parents undergo a thorough application process, required training, and a full home study before placement is considered. Little Flower has helped over 5,100 children find their forever families since 1958.

Little Flower is a proud partner of the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids® program, which is the signature program of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and establishes innovative co-investment partnerships with states to support the hiring of adoption recruiters who implement an evidence-based, child-focused recruitment model. This model has been proven to be up to three times more effective at finding permanent homes for children in foster care the longest. Learn more at https://www.davethomasfoundation.org/our-programs/wendys-wonderful-kids/.

If you are looking to adopt, many employers offer adoption benefits. If your employer doesn’t offer adoption benefits, consider sharing this adoption benefits toolkit, which could help them create new policies.