What to Do When the South Dakota PRIDE Training Waitlist is 3 Months Out

If you have called your regional South Dakota DSS office and discovered that the next available PRIDE training cohort doesn't start for two or three months, here is the direct answer to what you should do with that time: complete every other licensing requirement in parallel so that the only thing standing between you and a license is the training itself. Most families who hit the PRIDE waitlist stop. The families who use the gap correctly finish their licenses within weeks of completing training, rather than months later.

The PRIDE (Parent Resources for Information, Development, and Education) training is mandatory for all South Dakota prospective foster and adoptive parents — 30 hours of pre-service training that the state requires before a license can be issued. In Sioux Falls and Rapid City, cohorts run more frequently than in rural regions. In Aberdeen, Watertown, Mitchell, and smaller service areas, PRIDE sessions may only be offered quarterly. If you call in June and the next cohort starts in September, a disorganized applicant is looking at 6 months or more from today to licensed. An organized one can be licensed within 4 to 6 weeks of completing that September training.

The Core Problem: Sequential Thinking in a Parallel Process

Most prospective foster parents approach licensing sequentially: call the office, wait for the PRIDE training, then start gathering documents. This is how the process looks from the outside. It is not how it actually works. The licensing components are largely independent and can run simultaneously:

• Background checks (DCI/FBI, Central Registry, out-of-state registries) can be submitted the same week you register for PRIDE training
• The physical examination requirement for all adults in the household can be scheduled immediately
• Home safety preparation — the room-by-room inspection against ARSD 67:42:05 standards — can be done any time before the home visit
• Character references can be requested from your contacts as soon as you decide to apply
• The autobiographical statement for the home study can be drafted during the waitlist period
• Financial documentation (tax returns, pay stubs) can be gathered and organized
• For rural families: well water testing, abandoned well compliance, chemical storage review, and firearm storage verification can all be done before the licensing specialist arrives

The South Dakota Foster Care Licensing Guide includes a sequencing strategy specifically for this situation — which items to initiate on day one, which to complete during the PRIDE waitlist period, and which require the training to be completed first.

Who This Article Is For

• Prospective foster parents who have discovered that the next PRIDE cohort in their region is more than 4 weeks out
• Rural South Dakota families in counties served by the Aberdeen, Watertown, Mitchell, or Pierre regional offices, where training frequency is lower than in Sioux Falls or Rapid City
• Any first-time applicant who wants to compress their total licensing timeline rather than treat the waitlist as a pause
• Families who have registered for PRIDE training and are asking "now what?"

What to Do During the PRIDE Training Waitlist: Week-by-Week

Week 1: Background Checks

Submit all background check materials the same week you register for PRIDE training. This is the highest-leverage action you can take because background checks have the longest external processing times.

South Dakota requires four separate checks:

• DCI state criminal history — submit fingerprints to the SD Division of Criminal Investigation in Pierre; the combined DCI/FBI check is $50. In Sioux Falls, fingerprints can be taken electronically at the Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office using LiveScan ($25 appointment fee separate from DCI fee). Other regions use ink fingerprint cards submitted by mail.
• FBI national fingerprint check — included in the combined DCI/FBI check if submitted together
• Central Registry — a separate form to DSS checking for substantiated child abuse/neglect reports in South Dakota
• Out-of-state registry checks — required for every household member who has lived outside South Dakota in the past five years; submitted directly to each state's child welfare agency

The out-of-state registry checks are the reason to start immediately. Different states have different turnaround times, ranging from days to several weeks. If you wait until after PRIDE training to start these, your DCI result may arrive and expire before the out-of-state registries return. Submitting everything in parallel prevents this.

Week 2: Medical Requirements

Schedule physical examinations for all adults in the household (18+). Physicians must verify that you are free from communicable diseases or physical conditions that would impair your ability to care for a child. If your regular physician has a 2–3 week scheduling lag, this cannot be a day-before-the-home-study task. Some counties require or commonly request a tuberculosis (TB) test during the initial licensing phase; confirm with your regional office.

Week 3: References and Documentation

Contact your three character references: DSS requires one family member and one non-relative minimum. Give your references adequate time to write thoughtful letters — references submitted at the last moment are often noticeably different in quality from those written with time. Gather your financial documentation: most recent tax return (Form 1040) and recent pay stubs. Locate vaccination records for household pets, particularly rabies vaccination.

Week 4: Home Safety Preparation

Walk your home against the ARSD 67:42:05 safety checklist before the licensing specialist does. Specific items that frequently come up during South Dakota home inspections:

• Smoke detectors on each level and in or near all sleeping areas (battery check)
• Carbon monoxide detectors in homes with fuel-burning appliances or attached garages
• Water heater temperature: dial must be set at 120°F or lower
• All medications (prescription and OTC) in a locked container
• Firearms stored unloaded in a locked room, closet, or cabinet; ammunition stored separately; applies to pellet guns and BB guns as well
• Swimming pools, hot tubs, and ponds: fencing or secure covers required
• No child sharing a bed with an adult

For rural families, this is also when to initiate well water testing and address any agricultural property items: abandoned well capping if applicable, locked chemical storage for pesticides and fuels, accessible farm machinery.

Weeks 5–12 (PRIDE Waitlist Period): Autobiographical Statement and Study

The home study includes an autobiographical statement — a narrative covering your life history, upbringing, parenting philosophy, and motivation to foster. This is not a form; it is a personal document that your licensing specialist reads and uses to frame the home study interview. Writing it during the waitlist period rather than under time pressure produces a better result, and working through it helps you prepare for the interview questions you will be asked.

Use the PRIDE waitlist period to also familiarize yourself with the six training sessions so you arrive informed rather than blank. The curriculum covers trauma and brain development, attachment and loss, birth family partnerships, behavior management, permanency planning, and cultural and tribal competence. South Dakota's training has a specific focus on ICWA given that approximately 75% of children in the state's system are Native American. Arriving at training with some familiarity with these concepts accelerates your learning and positions you as a more confident participant.

Online PRIDE Training Options

The South Dakota DSS has integrated online modules through FosterParentCollege.com since the COVID-19 period. These online modules provide flexibility for rural families who face geographic barriers to in-person cohorts. Confirm with your regional office whether online completion is accepted, as this varies by region and sometimes by cohort availability. Some regions accept a hybrid approach — partial online completion with in-person components. If your regional office has a 3-month wait for in-person training and accepts online modules, your waitlist problem may be partially solved.

What You Cannot Complete Before Training

A few licensing components are legitimately sequenced after PRIDE:

• The formal home study interview (typically scheduled after training completion in most regions)
• Final license application review and approval
• The licensing specialist's home safety visit (some regions schedule this after training; others allow it during)

These components are a minority of the total licensing work. Everything else is parallelizable.

The Sequencing Payoff

A family that uses the PRIDE waitlist period to complete background checks, medicals, references, documentation, home preparation, and the autobiographical statement arrives at the end of PRIDE training with almost nothing left to do. The licensing specialist can complete the home visit and home study interview within weeks of training completion. The license is issued. The family is ready.

A family that waits passively through the training waitlist, then starts paperwork after PRIDE ends, is looking at 3 to 6 additional months. The background checks take 2 to 6 weeks. The medical appointments take 2 to 3 weeks. The out-of-state registry checks take 2 to 8 weeks depending on states. These timelines stack sequentially in the passive approach and run in parallel in the prepared approach.

The difference is not ability. It is knowledge of how the process actually works versus how it appears to work from the outside.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why doesn't the DSS website tell me to start background checks before training?

The DSS website provides requirements, not strategy. The order the website presents requirements in is not necessarily the optimal order to complete them. A licensing specialist will tell you the requirements when you call; they will not typically explain sequencing strategy unless you ask specifically. The resource gap between "what is required" and "in what order to do it efficiently" is exactly where a licensing guide provides its primary value.

Is it possible to get fingerprinted before I officially apply?

Yes. You can initiate fingerprinting and submit background check paperwork independently of having a formal application on file. Some families start the background check process before they have even decided definitively to apply, because these checks are independently useful. Check with your regional office about their preferred sequencing — some offices want to have your application form before you submit background check paperwork, which is a clerical preference that can be accommodated in a day.

What if my out-of-state background check results take longer than 8 weeks?

Contact the specific state's child welfare agency directly to follow up on the status. Each state has a different process and turnaround time. Some states respond within days; a few historically have taken 8 to 12 weeks. If an out-of-state check is significantly delayed and your DCI result is approaching expiration, communicate with your licensing specialist — they have experience managing this and can advise on options, which may include resubmission or a waiver in some circumstances.

Can I complete the home safety inspection myself before the licensing specialist visits?

Yes, and this is strongly recommended. Use the ARSD 67:42:05 safety checklist as a pre-inspection walk of your home. The goal is to identify and resolve any deficiency before it becomes a written finding that delays your license. A failed inspection item — even a minor one like a missing smoke detector battery or an unlocked medication cabinet — adds time to your timeline. Catching it yourself costs nothing and fixes in minutes.

Does the PRIDE training content vary by region?

The curriculum (PRIDE: Parent Resources for Information, Development, and Education) is standardized statewide. The delivery varies by trainer and region. In western South Dakota, the cultural and tribal competence session typically draws more heavily on local ICWA context — proximity to Pine Ridge and Rosebud adds specificity that trainers in Sioux Falls may not emphasize as heavily. The six core sessions are the same everywhere; the regional texture differs.

What if I complete all the pre-work and the training gets canceled?

Training cancellations do happen, particularly for smaller cohorts in rural areas with fewer participants. If your cohort is canceled, your completed background checks, medicals, and references are all still valid — they have not expired if you were within a normal timeline. Contact your regional office immediately to be placed in the next available cohort. Your preparation is not wasted; it transfers directly.

Is there a way to get licensed faster than 3 to 6 months in South Dakota?

For standard family foster home licensing, 3 months is approximately the minimum realistic timeline from initial inquiry to license, assuming: immediate background check submission, no rural property issues requiring remediation, and PRIDE training that runs within 4 to 6 weeks of application. Families who begin the background check process the same week they register for training, who have no home safety deficiencies, and who receive a timely home study and interview have reached licensure in approximately 3 months. Kinship emergency placements can be provisionally approved more quickly, but that is a different pathway for a different situation.

See more United States guides →