Shelter Youth & Family Services has been an Illinois Child Welfare Agency for over 50 years and they are headquartered in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Since Shelter’s founding, community support has always remained at the center of their work. In a partnership with Let It Be Us, they will continue to work until all children grow up in safe and loving homes. 

Children in foster care face many challenges. One of the biggest challenges is the disruption they experience when they have to leave the home where they’ve been living, whether with biological or foster family. The Emergency Foster Care Program aims to provide children with somewhere to go temporarily, on an emergency basis, so they receive the special kind of care and safe environment that a well-supported foster home can provide while they stabilize from the disruption they’ve experienced.

Let It Be Us recruits Emergency Foster Homes for Shelter Youth & Family Services Emergency Foster Care Program. We are in our third year of recruitment for Shelter Youth & Family Services. We recruit the following homes for Shelter Youth & Family Services.

• Homes or apartments within 50 miles of Arlington Heights, Illinois
• Homes with or without previous foster care experience 
• Homes where one parent has flexible employment or works from home
• Homes with only a few, or less, children 

Spanish-speaking foster families are urgently needed.

Let It Be Us and Shelter Youth & Family Services are actively recruiting Spanish-speaking and bilingual Emergency Foster Parents to support children entering foster care in Illinois. Children entering foster care often experience fear, uncertainty, and trauma, and being welcomed into a home where they can communicate in their preferred language can make an immediate difference. If you are bilingual or primarily speak Spanish, you can help provide the comfort, stability, and support a child needs during a difficult time. Download our Spanish information flyer below to learn more about becoming an Emergency Foster Parent.

Benefits of becoming an Emergency Foster Home with Shelter Youth & Family Services include:

• Support from Shelter Youth & Family Services in the form of
  • 24/7 and 365 access to Shelter Youth & Family Services social worker support
  • Access to mental health care for your children in care 
  • Access to medical care for your children in care 
• Homes that are recruited and licensed with Shelter Youth & Family Services will receive a recurring, monthly stipend