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

This Silver Spring, Md., foster home belonged to Irene Marquez, an animal lover who has spent the past 18 years helping rescue dogs find homes, including dozens of foster puppies. —Kelli Bender, Peoplemag, 2 Sep. 2024

Unfortunately, even in the safety of a foster home, Chapo struggled to open up and feel comfortable during his recovery. —Kelli Bender, People.com, 17 Oct. 2024

In January, six sibling dogs brought to Michigan by Tri-County Dog Rescue were caught in legal limbo after they were turned over to Macomb County Animal Control by a separate foster home. —Liam Rappleye, Detroit Free Press, 27 Sep. 2024

The Lede The End of Adoptions from China A child plays with a balloon at a foster home on the outskirts of Beijing, on October 11, 2017.Photograph by Ng Han Guan / AP The Chinese Communist Party enacted a policy in 1992 allowing babies to be adopted internationally. —Rachel Syme, The New Yorker, 19 Sep. 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)