foster home

noun

plural foster homes

: a home or homelike setting where a person or animal is placed for temporary care: such as

a

: a home in which a child receives care from a foster parent

The child, her adopted parents later learned, had been abandoned by her single mother and sent through a series of foster homes …

—Deborah Bloom

Treehouse is a planned intergenerational community, created in the hope that a close-knit support network can prevent children from bouncing from one foster home to another and give them tools to succeed.

—Pam Belluck

b

: a household or similar setting providing temporary care to an animal (such as one that is injured or awaiting adoption)

She had provided a foster home to more than a dozen of the program's birds before and had found the work highly rewarding.

—Dugan Arnett

The cat project currently has 150 cats in foster homes, aside from the many cats in the shelter itself.

—Patricia Camerota

Examples of foster home in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That measure seeks to create methods for federal data collection and implement reporting standards that can provide states with guidelines on how best to prevent abuse in foster homes or residential treatment facilities. —Cami Mondeaux, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 25 June 2024

Better to see the facility or foster home where the dog has been staying. —David Wharton, Los Angeles Times, 21 June 2024

The campaign’s goal is to have 50 dogs in foster homes by the end of the month. —Vivian Barrett, The Arizona Republic, 7 June 2024

The series also exposed horrific abuse in the group homes, institutions and family foster homes run by these agencies. —Richard Wexler, New York Daily News, 13 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1886, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

foster home

noun

: a household in which an orphaned, neglected, or delinquent child is placed for care

Legal Definition

foster home

noun

: a household in which care is provided to a child who has been orphaned or removed from the home of his or her natural parents (as for reasons of abuse, neglect, or delinquency)