What is dependency (also known as foster care)?

Dependency describes a legal case in which Child Protective Services has filed a petition in court stating that a child’s parents have abused, neglected, or abandoned them. Sometimes Child Protective Services asks the court for permission to remove the child from the parents’ custody and place that child in foster care. Sometimes they are only asking that the court order the parents to participate in supportive services to help protect the child while the child remains in the parents’ home.