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Become a Licensed APD Adult Foster Home Provider

Provide care and a home-like environment for older adults and people with physical disabilities in your community.

Adult foster care is ideal for those who want to work from home and own their own business. Adult foster home operators provide personal care and services to older adults and people with disabilities who require support but prefer to live in a home-like setting.

Learn about the many benefits of being an adult foster home provider, what the work involves, how to become a provider and training available for those seeking to be a provider.

To find out more, email us or contact an adult foster home licensing office. 

Email us Find a licensing office

 

Watch a short video about the program.



Frequently asked questions

​When elderly people or adults with physical disabilities are no longer able to care for themselves in their own homes, adult foster care may be an option. Adult foster homes are single-family residences that offer 24-hour care in a home-like setting.

A wide variety of residents are served in adult foster homes, from those needing only room, board a minimal personal assistance to those needing full personal care, or skilled nursing care with the help of community-based registered nurses.

Learn more in the Guide to Oregon Adult Foster Homes (also in Spanish - Una guía a los Hogares de Cuidado Temporal para Adultos de Oregon​).

The goal of the adult foster home licensee is to provide care and services to residents while supporting their independence, choice and right to make decisions. Adult foster homes provide the opportunity for residents to reside in a safe and caring family-like environment.

Adult foster home providers may help with:

  • eating
  • dressing
  • bowel and bladder care
  • bathing and grooming
  • walking, which may include getting in or out of a bed or chair
  • behavioral issues as needed

They also perform general tasks including:

  • laundry
  • medication management
  • meal preparation
  • transportation arrangements

Adult foster care allows the licensee to:

  • Make a difference in the lives of others while making a living in their own home
  • Have the satisfaction of operating their own business
  • Gain tax benefits that are available to licensees who
    • live in the adult foster home
    • enroll to accept recipients of Medicaid
    • provide care to recipients of Medicaid
  • Gain personal and financial benefits as the licensee and their family experience the joys of a multi-generational household.

Proving adult foster care is ideal for those who wish to work from home, own their own business and provide personal care and services outside of an institutional setting.

Every potential adult foster home licensee must meet certain standards in order to obtain a license to operate an adult foster home.

Minimum requirements to become licensed as an adult foster home provider in Oregon include:

  • Being of good character;
  • Passing the department's background check;
  • Being at least 21 years of age;
  • Having a home that meets the structural and safety requirements of the adult foster home program;
  • Having the financial resources required to open and maintain an adult foster home business;
  • Being literate in the English language;
  • Guaranteeing that the licensed provider or a qualified resident manager lives in the adult foster home;
  • Completing an adult foster home basic training course and passing an exam based on that course;
  • Being physically and mentally fit and able to provide care to five or fewer seniors or adults with physical disabilities; and
  • Having the ability to maintain qualified caregivers sufficient to meet the needs of each resident.​

​Contact us at apd.afhteam@odhsoha.oregon.gov​ to learn more about the application process.