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

While a social worker (Linda Cardellini) searches for a foster home, Michael stumbles through a series of chaotic misadventures — and discovers his unlikely bond with the rowdy quartet might change his life forever. —James Mercadante, People.com, 12 Dec. 2024

When their mother married a man who had five teenage sons, Martin went to live in a foster home. —Austin Corona, The Arizona Republic, 8 Dec. 2024

Meanwhile, the survivors will live in a Westchester County foster home arranged by Children’s Aid, a large nonprofit based in Harlem. —Graham Rayman, New York Daily News, 12 Nov. 2024

Sadly, both adoptive homes and foster homes are in short supply. —John B. Bowman, Sun Sentinel, 21 Nov. 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)