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
Cite this Entry
“Foster home.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/foster%20home. Accessed 27 Mar. 2025.
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