Can anyone claim this child?

[shanendoah]

Trying to help some friends out, and have (what seems to me) a tricky tax question.
When you foster a child, you cannot claim them on your taxes unless they have been in your home for 6 months + 1 day (during the calendar year). Does this apply to the child's actual parents, too, if she wasn't in another home for that length of time?

The child was in her parent's home for a little over 5 months. She has since then been in 3 different foster placements, the longest one (where she still is) for a little over 4 months. 

Obviously none of the foster families claim her on their taxes, but can her parents claim her on their's? Or can no one claim her this year? And does that have any detrimental effect on the child (such as eligibility for parent's social security benefits) if no one is able to claim her for a year?

Thanks

[alabamagal]

I would say no one can claim the child. The child is being supported by the government.

I'm actually surprised you can claim them as foster child because you are given money for their support, which is not income.

[rangerj]

Ditto, no one can claim this child. See IRC section 152(c)(1)(B), " the individual MUST have the SAME principal place of abode as the taxpayer for MORE THAN one-half of the year". All the other tests for dependency exemption must also be met. 

[shanendoah]

Thanks everyone. That's what I thought, but given that you can claim your child on your taxes for the previous year even if they are born or are adopted on Dec 31, I thought I'd double check on the rights of the parents here.