foster parent

noun

plural foster parents

1

: a person temporarily serving as a parent for a child who has lost or been removed from a parent's care and who is not the person's own biological child

specifically, US : such a person who has been trained and approved by a government or social-service agency

Many foster parents … continue to act selflessly as important way stations for at-risk kids while their biological parents get their lives together.

—Timothy Roche

Foster parents adopt children in Ventura County [California] more often than relatives do.

—Stephanie Hoops

2

a

: a person temporarily caring for an animal (such as one that is injured or awaiting adoption)

The 36-year-old Owosso [Michigan] native became a foster parent to dogs through the shelter five years ago.

—Anamaria Dickerson

b

: an animal caring for an unrelated offspring

Cowbirds deposit their eggs in the nests of other birds, and unknowing foster parents raise baby cowbirds along with their own young.

—The Tuscaloosa (Alabama) News

Tom hoped the little eaglet could be placed into an active nest, adopted and raised by wild foster parents, and could ultimately fly free.

—Massachusetts Wildlife

Examples of foster parent in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In the chick’s early days, the foster parents kept a close watch. —Karen Kucher, The Mercury News, 13 Oct. 2024

Nobody else except his foster parents had stepped up. —Zoey Lyttle, People.com, 30 Sep. 2024

Davis argued that the agency couldn’t have predicted the abuse from a foster parent who passed a background check. —Rebecca Ellis, Los Angeles Times, 18 Sep. 2024

Then there is the very briefest of lines toward the end of the latest episode when Helga shows up with her pig, having retrieved it from its foster parent, Howard. —Erik Kain, Forbes, 15 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1649, in the meaning defined at sense 1