Your First Foster Care Placement in Alberta: What to Expect in the First 24 to 72 Hours

You have been approved. The paperwork is done, the home study is behind you, and then — sometimes weeks later, sometimes months — the phone rings. There is a child who needs placement. The placement coordinator gives you a brief summary: age, a few sentences about background, a question about whether you can be ready by this evening.

Most new foster parents describe the period between that call and the child's arrival as surreal. No amount of PRIDE training fully prepares you for the practical reality of getting ready for a specific child you know very little about. Here is what actually happens, what you are entitled to know, and what to do in the hours that follow.

The Placement Call: What Information You Should Receive

When a placement coordinator contacts you with an offer, you are not required to say yes on the spot. You can ask questions, and you should. The placement coordinator will give you a summary — but the depth of that summary varies, and it is your right to ask follow-up questions before deciding.

Reasonable questions to ask before accepting a placement:

• How old is the child, and what is the reason for placement?
• Are there any immediate medical needs, current medications, or known health conditions I need to know about?
• Are there siblings involved? Is this child being placed with or separated from siblings?
• What type of placement is this expected to be — emergency, short-term, or longer-term?
• What school will the child attend, and will transportation be arranged?
• Are there any scheduled access visits with the birth family in the next few days?
• Is there anything about this child's history or needs that I should know to prepare my home or my own children?

You may not get complete answers before the child arrives — especially for emergency placements, where information is sometimes limited because the situation moved quickly. But asking demonstrates your preparation and helps the coordinator understand what you need.

The First 24 Hours: What Should Happen

Within the first 24 hours of a new placement, provincial policy calls for an Initial Placement Meeting between you and the child's caseworker. In practice, especially for emergency placements after hours, this may happen by phone rather than in person — but it should happen.

This meeting or call is where you receive the essential information you need to keep the child safe:

Medical information. You need a list of every medication the child is currently taking, including dosages and timing of the last dose. You also need their Personal Healthcare Number (PHN) and their Alberta Blue Cross Treatment Services Card, which covers dental and allied health services for children in care. If the child has a known allergy, medical condition, or recent injury, you need that documented.

The Plan of Care. Ask for the initial Plan of Care as soon as it is available. This document outlines the goals for the placement, the child's identified needs, and any contact arrangements with birth family. It is the operational document that governs the placement.

Caseworker contact information. Confirm you have the direct cell number for the child's worker and the after-hours emergency line for your region. In Alberta, Children's Services runs a 24/7 emergency intake that can be reached through the Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-387-5437) for crisis situations. For non-emergency after-hours support, ask your caseworker what the regional protocol is.

What to Do on Day One

Beyond the administrative pieces, the first day is about helping the child feel safe in an unfamiliar environment. Most children coming into emergency placement arrive with very little — sometimes one garbage bag of belongings, sometimes nothing.

Give the child a brief tour of the home. Show them where their room is, where the bathroom is, how to find food if they wake up at night. Keep the first day low-key. Do not try to fill the day with activities or outings. The child is experiencing significant stress, even if they are not showing it visibly.

Some things that matter in the first hours:

• Start your daily log immediately. The province requires foster parents to maintain a daily record of eating, sleeping, behavior, and any notable incidents. Beginning this on day one — even with just brief notes — ensures you have an accurate record from the start.
• Note the child's physical condition on arrival. If there are bruises, marks, or signs of illness, document them. This protects you and the child.
• Let the child eat. Children who have been neglected or experienced food insecurity may eat unusually large amounts, hoard food, or refuse to eat. Neither is a behavioral problem to correct immediately — it is a trauma response to observe and report to the caseworker.
• Do not probe for their history. The child does not owe you their story on the first day. Let them share what they want to share, when they want to share it.

The First Week: Establishing Routine

The single most stabilizing thing a foster parent can provide for a child who has been through placement disruption is predictability. A consistent daily routine — meals at the same times, a reliable bedtime routine, a clear sense of what each day looks like — signals safety in a way that words cannot.

During the first week, you will likely be navigating:

School enrollment or continuity. Whenever possible, Alberta Children's Services aims to keep children in their current school to minimize disruption. Your caseworker should advise you on the plan. If the child needs to change schools, enrollment will require their registration documents, which the caseworker should facilitate.

Access visits. If the child's Plan of Care includes visits with birth family members, these will be arranged through the caseworker or a Supervised Access coordinator. You may be asked to transport the child. These visits are legally mandated when safe to do so, and your role is to support them — even if the conversations are complicated.

The child's emotional response. Some children will seem fine. Some will test every boundary they can find within 48 hours. Many will oscillate between both. These are normal responses to an abnormal situation. Document what you observe and keep your caseworker informed, particularly if you have safety concerns.

What If It Is Not Going Well?

Contact your caseworker early, not late. If a placement is struggling — if the child's behavior is beyond what you can manage, if there is a safety concern, or if the placement is creating a crisis in your household — raise it before it becomes an emergency.

Placement breakdown is one of the most damaging experiences for a child in care. An early conversation gives Children's Services the chance to bring in additional support, adjust the care plan, or arrange a planned transition if needed. Waiting until the situation is untenable removes those options.

Your regional Children's Services office and AFKA (afkaonline.ca) both offer caregiver support resources. You are not expected to manage everything alone.

If you want a complete picture of the approval process — from the initial inquiry through the home study to what actually happens when a placement begins — the Alberta Foster Care Guide covers each stage in practical, Alberta-specific detail. Many caregivers find the section on the first placement particularly useful to review in the weeks before that first call comes.

What You Will Learn That No Manual Can Teach

Every first placement teaches you something different. The frameworks and checklists matter — the daily log, the medication records, the contact numbers. But what stays with you is more specific: the particular way this child needs to be called for dinner, what helps them sleep, how they show they are scared.

Alberta needs more foster parents. The province has approximately 10,000 children and youth in care and a documented shortage of qualified homes. The paperwork and the process are real obstacles. But so is the gap between knowing the policies and knowing what to do on day one.

Both kinds of knowledge are worth having.

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