How to Fill Out and Submit the Foster Care Application (LDSS-2230)

To complete New York’s foster care application, LDSS-2230, you first contact a local Department of Social Services (DSS) office or a private voluntary authorized agency, attend an orientation or intake appointment where the agency hands you the form, fill it out with full information for every adult in your household, gather the required supporting documents, and submit the complete package back to that same agency. The form is not available for public download; your certifying agency is the only source.¹

How to Get the Form

You cannot download the LDSS-2230 from a public website. It is handed to you by the agency that will certify your home, either during an individual intake appointment or at a group orientation session.¹ To trigger that first meeting, call or write your county DSS office or a voluntary authorized agency licensed by the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS). The agency has 10 days to respond in writing and either schedule your appointment or invite you to orientation. If two weeks pass without a response, call back and reference the 10-day requirement.

Some agencies use a substantially equivalent form approved by OCFS in place of the LDSS-2230, so the exact form you receive may differ slightly from one agency to another.² Either way, the content it collects is the same, and your agency will walk you through which version applies.

Along with the application, the agency gives you the medical report form and the LDSS-3370 background screening form. These travel with your LDSS-2230; treat them as one packet from the start.

Who the Form Covers

The LDSS-2230 is a household form, not just an applicant form. Every person over 18 living in your home has to be listed, and each of them has to sign the consent sections authorizing the state’s background investigations. A single missing adult signature is one of the most common reasons applications get kicked back.

Before you fill anything in, confirm the household meets New York’s basic eligibility floor. You must be at least 21, in reasonably good health, and have a source of income sufficient to support your own household without relying on foster payments. You can be married, single, partnered, or divorced, and you can rent or own.³ Every adult in the home must clear a criminal background check and a screening against the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment.

What the Form Asks For

The LDSS-2230 collects standard personal and household information: names, dates of birth, and relationships for everyone living in your home, along with employment history and residential history for each adult. Record dates and addresses carefully. Vague or inconsistent entries trigger follow-up requests that slow your file, and employment dates will be cross-checked against the references the agency contacts.

The form also asks you to describe the care you are prepared to provide. You specify the type of placement you are willing to accept, such as emergency placements, long-term foster care, or therapeutic foster care, and you state the number of children you can accommodate and the age ranges you are prepared to parent. Be realistic. Agencies take your stated preferences seriously when matching children to homes, and overpromising creates problems after placement.

A sworn criminal history statement is part of the application: you indicate whether you or any person over 18 in your home has ever been convicted of a crime in New York or any other state. Answer honestly. The fingerprint-based criminal history check through the Division of Criminal Justice Services and the FBI will surface any convictions regardless of what you write.

Before signing, go through the form page by page and confirm that every adult household member has signed every place requiring their signature, that dates match across sections, and that no field is left blank where “N/A” would be the correct entry.

Documents to Attach

Your LDSS-2230 is reviewed with its supporting documents, not in isolation. Gather these before you start filling out the form so you aren’t chasing paperwork at the end:

Employment history for each adult, with employer names, dates, and positions, plus references who can verify it.
At least three personal references who are not relatives and who can speak to your character, habits, reputation, and qualifications for caring for children.⁴
A physician’s medical report confirming your general health, the absence of communicable disease or infection, and whether any physical condition might affect your ability to care for a foster child, together with the results of a tuberculosis screening. A medical report is required for every household member, not only the applicant.⁴
Addresses for every applicant and household member age 18 or older going back 28 years, for the SCR check on form LDSS-3370.⁵
Proof of income, such as recent pay stubs or tax returns, showing your household can meet its own obligations.
Government-issued identification for every adult. Social Security cards and birth certificates are commonly requested.

The 28-year address history catches many applicants off guard. Start reconstructing it early. Old tax returns, lease agreements, and utility bills help fill in dates and locations you may not remember cleanly.

If you or any adult in the household lived in another state during the five years before your application, the agency must also request child abuse registry records from that state. Flag any out-of-state residences during that period on your form so the agency can get those requests moving quickly.¹

The LDSS-3370 and a Signature-Timing Trap

The LDSS-3370 is the SCR background screening form that accompanies your application. One form per adult household member. Each form must be submitted with a $25 fee, payable by certified check or money order to the New York State Office of Children and Family Services.⁵

Pay attention to the signature date. The signature on the LDSS-3370 cannot be more than six months old when the form is submitted. Do not sign it the day the agency hands it to you and then let it sit for months while you assemble other paperwork. Sign it close to the date you plan to submit your full packet.

Separately, each adult must be fingerprinted for a DCJS and FBI criminal history check. Schedule that early. Fingerprint results and SCR responses can take several weeks, and out-of-state registry checks often take the longest. Getting them moving in parallel with the rest of your application is the single biggest thing within your control for shortening the overall timeline.

How to Submit the Packet

Submit the completed LDSS-2230, the medical reports, the signed LDSS-3370 forms with the $25 fees, your references, your proof of income, and your identification documents to the same agency that gave you the form. You can deliver everything in person at the agency office, mail it via certified mail with return receipt for a paper trail, or use the agency’s digital upload portal if one is available.

Keep a complete photocopy of everything you submit, including the signed application, the medical forms, your reference contact information, and each LDSS-3370. Ask the agency for written confirmation of receipt. That confirmation creates a dated record of when your file entered the system, which matters if processing stalls and you need to follow up.

After You Submit

Submission is a middle step, not the end. Once your packet is in, the agency runs the SCR check, the DCJS and FBI criminal history check, and the Justice Center Staff Exclusion List check in parallel.⁵ You complete the required training, and a caseworker begins the home study, which involves multiple visits and interviews with every household member.

No certificate or letter of approval can be issued until your background checks clear, your training is complete, your home study is approved, and you have signed the required agreement with the agency.² From first inquiry to final certification, the whole process typically runs about six months, and the pace from this point depends largely on how quickly background results come back and how your home study is scheduled.

You have the right to review the completed home study report (except for confidential statements from your references), add a written reaction as an addendum, and sign the final evaluation alongside the caseworker before certification is issued.²

1
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. 18 CRR-NY 443.2 – Authorized Agency Operating Requirements
2
Legal Information Institute. 18 NYCRR 443.3 – Certification or Approval of Foster Family Homes
3
NYC.gov. Foster/Adopt Frequently Asked Questions
4
Child Welfare Information Gateway. Home Study Requirements for Prospective Foster Parents – New York
5
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Required Forms and Clearance List Group Child Care Programs