Whether you do a foster/adopt adoption or a traditional adoption from foster care, parenting a foster child requires you to set aside all your preconceived notions about parenting. Training will help you understand that standard discipline techniques probably won't work. For example, isolation or a time-out will frighten a child who was left alone by her parents.

When you adopt a child from foster care, you need to be prepared to deal with behaviors that you would not expect or have not seen in other children. Some of these behaviors can appear very irrational and confusing. It can seem strange to see a child do self-destructive things when she has been removed from an abusive home for her protection. Other behaviors, such as lying, stealing, or property destruction can be frustrating to foster parents who want to trust their foster child but find the child untrustworthy due to emotional problems. Not only must you be prepared to deal with it emotionally, you need to be prepared to seek out help for your child from doctors, therapists, tutors, and counselors. Finding out what assistance your child may need is half the battle; actually implementing that help is the other half. It can be hard to realize that you cannot provide everything your child needs, but remember, it would be unwise to take on this challenge unless you were willing to be flexible to meet your child's needs.