My sisters, brother and I were foster kids.

I had a great home. I even kept in touch with the family long after my dad took me out of the foster care system.

Its basically the same as being a parent. Kids also do have a say (at least we all did) on if they want to stay with their foster family, or if they want to go back to their parents, or to another family. We were given the choice.
As long as I was able to keep in touch with the family that fostered me for 4 yrs, I willingly went back to live with my dad.

For us, my parents divorced when we were young. My mom had full custody, and she kept my dad away from us. She found she couldnt care for us anymore, and put us all in foster homes. We visited her every other weekend, until she moved away to Germany one year. My dad not knowing she did this till it was too late, he had to come up with the means to care for his 5 kids. Once my mom was out of the picture, my dad had us every other weekend. Till one day he came to us all and told us he wanted us. We all made our decisions, based on our ages, and our lives. I was the youngest, and wanted to live with my dad. Anyway.
Sometimes adoption is an option, if you are up for it.


Not sure how much each state pays.