When you think of a family, thoughts of a mother, father and children may appear in your mind. Not all families are this simple, however. Many parents are unfit to take care of their children or even themselves. When the government find a child who is in need of help, a temporary home, or a permanent home, action must be taken for the child's needs.

This means that some children are temporarily placed in foster care so that their parents can make sure they have everything taken care of before the children are placed back in their care. Some kids cannot legally be placed in their parent's care because of endangerment through abuse or neglect. These children go into foster care so that they may become adopted and find a forever home.

Some people might assume that children in the foster care or orphans, but this is just a common misconception. Children in the foster care normally have one, if not both, parents. They are just not able to take care of them. This could be because of the parents' drug abuse, alcohol abuse, child abuse, child neglect, unemployment, homelessness or other situations that might put a child in danger.

There are many types of foster care available for each child's needs.

Traditional care is when one, or a few, children stay with two adults or one adult foster parent. This system of foster care usually lasts a short amount of time, such as a few days or a month or two.

Emergency foster is available 24 hours. This system is used when a child's parents may have been arrested and is used until another place is found for a child.

Respite foster families take in children for a very short period of time if parents need a break. This system pairs with relief care to give children's regular foster families a break from them if they are particularly troublesome.

There are even group homes, which are mostly for older foster children or if there are shortages of foster parents available. This is a dormitory-like setting and the last option that is usually taken.

Foster parents play a major role in the life of a foster child. They must be ready to treat children like their own and many foster kids have been through special circumstances that require patience and understanding from a foster parents. Many children in foster care have been abused, neglected or seen abuse and neglect in their former families.

After children are paired with foster families, they stay with them until their birth parents are stable enough to take them back. This is sometimes a flaw in the foster care system, as many children who have been placed in it might return again because of more parental mistakes. Some children even stay in the foster care system until they age out at 18 years old.

Whatever the case, the foster care system is one that requires patience, nurturing and understanding by foster parents so that they can heal the children.

It's simple: A child's parents may lose custody temporarily, the child is placed in foster care with a suitable family and then the child is either returned to their birth parents, moved from one foster family to the next, or adopted.