Respite, Emergency, and Short-Term Foster Care in North Dakota

Not every family that wants to support foster children is ready for — or interested in — long-term placements. Maybe you want to give a foster family a weekend off. Maybe you are willing to take a child for a few weeks in a crisis situation but not commit to months or years. North Dakota's foster care licensing structure has specific options for these scenarios, and understanding them matters because the requirements differ meaningfully from standard foster care.

What Respite Care Is and How It Works

Respite care is short-duration care that gives primary foster parents a break. In North Dakota, respite is typically provided in two forms: overnight stays (up to a specified number of nights per month) and daytime care (up to 12 hours at a time for non-overnight respite).

The state pays respite providers at approximately $60 to $80 per day for overnight care, paid per night the child stays with the respite family. Non-overnight daytime respite is compensated separately. Respite providers must be licensed — you cannot provide paid respite care for a foster child without your own active foster care license.

Respite care is arranged through the child's case manager and the primary foster family. If you are interested in providing respite, you first become licensed as a standard or certified foster parent, then make yourself available on the ND Provider List as willing to accept respite placements.

Emergency Foster Care: What It Means in Practice

Emergency placements happen when a child is removed from their home after hours, on weekends, or in crisis situations where there is no time to process a standard placement. These calls typically come from the on-call Human Service Zone worker and go out to licensed families on the emergency availability list.

Emergency placements in North Dakota are often certified for up to 14 days while the case manager stabilizes the situation and determines the best long-term placement. For some families, an emergency placement becomes a long-term placement if the family and child are a good match and no other plan is in place. For others, the child moves on after a week.

Emergency placements require an active foster care license — either a standard license or a Certified Foster Care license (described below). You indicate your willingness to accept emergency placements during the licensing process and can update your preferences at any time through your Human Service Zone contact.

Being on the emergency list is not a requirement. Many licensed foster families choose not to accept emergency calls, and that is entirely within their rights. Families who do accept emergency calls often describe the experience as genuinely difficult but also one of the most meaningful things they have done as foster parents.

The Certified Foster Care License: North Dakota's Short-Term Option

In 2024, North Dakota introduced a Certified Foster Care designation specifically designed for families who want to provide short-term placements only — defined as 30 days or less. This is distinct from the standard full foster care license, which authorizes longer-term placements.

The Certified license is well-suited for:

• Families who want to provide respite care exclusively
• Families whose life circumstances (travel, work schedules, housing) make short commitments more feasible
• Experienced foster families from other states who have relocated to North Dakota and want to start with limited placements while re-establishing roots

The application process for a Certified license is similar to a standard license: background checks, home inspection, and an abbreviated orientation. The training requirements may be reduced compared to the full 27-hour PRIDE curriculum, though this varies by case and the licensing specialist's assessment.

Certified providers are not eligible for long-term placements. If a child in a certified placement cannot move to a permanent plan within 30 days, the child must be transferred to a fully licensed home. This constraint is important to understand before choosing the certified track — it limits your flexibility if a situation evolves.

Can You Foster Kinship Children Short-Term?

Relative and kinship caregivers occupy a different lane in North Dakota's licensing structure. If a family member takes in a related child in a crisis, they are not required to be licensed for the first 30 days — but at the 30-day mark, they must either obtain a license or the child must be moved to a licensed home. This is North Dakota's "30-day rule" under NDCC Chapter 50-11.

For kinship caregivers who want to provide short-term care while the family situation stabilizes, pursuing the Identified Relative License (a child-specific license) is typically faster than a standard license because some non-safety requirements can be waived using SFN 844.

How to Get Started

Call 1-833-FST-HOME (1-833-378-4663) or submit an interest form at hhs.nd.gov/cfs/fostercare. When you speak with the Recruitment and Retention Specialist, be explicit about your preference for short-term or respite placements — this shapes which track they recommend and which orientation session is most relevant.

If respite-only is your goal, ask specifically about the Certified Foster Care license and whether there are any current respite provider shortages in your Human Service Zone. Many zones are actively recruiting respite providers because the supply is consistently lower than demand.

The North Dakota Foster Care Licensing Guide covers the full Certified license application process, how respite payments work, and what to expect when you get your first emergency placement call.

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