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

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

Burst said dogs that exhibited anxiety or aggression out of fear that could have benefited from going into a foster home or spending more time working with staff members were instead euthanized. —Jamie Goldberg, oregonlive, 8 Jan. 2023

The department also faced scrutiny following the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant outside of her foster home in April 2021 after an argument with two other young women escalated. —Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN, 8 Feb. 2023

At the time, Violet was living with one sister in a foster home; their three siblings lived in other foster placements. —Jasmine Wali, BostonGlobe.com, 22 Dec. 2022

Like a good foster home, the Earth plays host to many wayward lumps of rock looking for a gravitational well to hang around near. —Duncan Forgan, Discover Magazine, 1 Dec. 2022

Houle needed to find a new foster home, but the nearest Native home was halfway across the state. —Time, 9 Nov. 2022

At the end of the play, the murderer is revealed to be the older sibling of a boy who was killed in an abusive foster home. —Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 18 Sep. 2022

After Karen's incarceration in a psychiatric hospital following the events of the original, Chucky followed the young boy first to a foster home (Child's Play 2, 1990), and then to a military academy (Child's Play 3, 1991). —Declan Gallagher, EW.com, 12 Jan. 2023

Schindler said the rescue group is also continuing its investigation into how the seven puppies went missing from a foster home in late August. —Luz Lazo, Washington Post, 18 Sep. 2022

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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)