Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC) Programs
Helping Children with High Behavioral Health Needs
Being a therapeutic foster parent comes with the immense reward of seeing a child grow through your skilled intervention, unconditional love and respect. Therapeutic foster care is different than traditional foster care because it involves clinical intervention and placement of youth in specially trained foster homes.
Children in therapeutic foster care must be medically approved for placement and tend to require more assistance with mental, emotional and behavioral health needs. They receive structured, tailored treatment that helps them thrive.
Becoming a Therapeutic Foster Care Parent in Northern Arizona
Opportunities to Work with All Ages!
As a therapeutic foster provider, you’ll have the opportunity to work with a diverse range of age groups. Therapeutic foster children are usually between the ages of 5-17 and stay for a period of 6-12 months. This timeframe is determined by the client’s progress and their Child and Family Team, along with meeting medical necessity. Review of placement progress occurs every 30-90 days.
Who Makes an Ideal Therapeutic Foster Parent?
Catholic Charities looks for couples and individuals 21 years of age and older who are knowledgeable, patient and have a passion for children. Those who have experience in child welfare, such as teachers, counselors, and CASAs (court-appointed special advocates), are a perfect fit. After one year, traditional foster parents can also continue their training to become therapeutic foster parents.
Therapeutic Foster Care Training
Those interested in becoming therapeutic foster care parents must first become licensed in traditional foster care. This involves completing 30 hours of pre-service training, a combination of online and in-person education that is split into two 15-hour sessions.
To gain certification in therapeutic foster care, parents must then complete 18 hours of additional TFC training. TFC parents will also be trained in verbal de-escalation skills and required to obtain 18 hours of training annually to maintain their licensure. Catholic Charities offers monthly training opportunities to TFC and FAS parents to obtain these hours.
Therapeutic Foster Care Home Requirements
The licensing process also requires a Level 1 Fingerprint Clearance Card, CPR/First Aid Certification and clearance of both DCS and criminal background checks.
Parents must maintain a safe, clean living space to ensure that the child receives proper care. This includes securely storing medications with a double lock and keeping dangerous items out of reach. Providers must also be able to financially care for a child and have reliable transportation.
Is Financial Assistance Available? | Therapeutic Foster Care Pay
Catholic Charities strives to provide quality financial assistance to our foster parents. Due to the additional training required, those caring for therapeutic foster children are considered behavioral health professionals and their homes are referred to as a level of behavioral health. Therapeutic foster care families receive weekly, tax-free reimbursement to assist with the child’s care, supporting the child in meeting their therapeutic goals and reimbursing for the parents’ professional skills and services.
Although it depends on if the child is a DCS or clinical placement (i.e., coming from a residential treatment facility), here are some examples of financial support provided on behalf of the state:
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- Medical, eye and dental care
- Clothing allowance
- Monthly allowance for additional support
- Property damage reimbursement (through the Provider Indemnity Program or PIP, which provides liability coverage for foster parents while caring for foster children)
Resources Available to Professional Foster Care Providers
We know that access to the proper resources is essential to the success of our foster parents. Catholic Charities provides the following to ensure you feel supported:
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- 24/7 on-call support
- Regular contact from your Catholic Charities team
- An in-home counselor to provide additional family support
- Monthly trainings to improve your skills and education and connect you with other therapeutic foster parents
