Official State of Iowa Website

Parents’ Rights and Responsibilities During Kinship/Foster Care

Kinship and foster care are designed as temporary, safe, out-of-home placements for children, while their parents work to fix the issues that endangered the children inside the home. 

Even if the state temporarily removes your children for their safety, you still have parental rights and responsibilities for your children. 

During the kinship/foster care process, you have the right to:Information icon

You also have responsibilities to:

  • Stay in contact and meet with your social worker, as well as work together to develop a family interaction plan
  • Stay in contact and meet with your attorney, as well as ask for financial aid if you can’t afford an attorney
  • Supply the names of relatives who could care for your children
  • Communicate and visit with your child regularly
  • Keep track of and attend your children’s doctor and parent-teacher appointments
  • Support your child financially, as the court orders

The Iowa Department of Human Services has more information, available here, on parents’ rights and responsibilities while their children are in kinship or foster care.

The American Bar Association has also created a document, available here, for parents in Iowa who have had their children removed.