Therapeutic vs. Traditional Foster Care

When a child or teen first enters foster care, we may not fully understand their emotional and behavioral needs. Youth are placed in a traditional setting if they don’t seem to have significant issues and need basic nurturing and supervision from an adult caregiver. If the child appears to have emotional, behavioral, or medical concerns, they may be placed in a therapeutic foster care home.

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Benefits for Therapeutic Foster Parents

Continued Training and Collaboration

Shineforth offers ongoing access to resources, local support groups, 24-hour on-call support, and counseling.

Individualized Strategies

Our team will help you develop a plan to meet the specific needs of your child or teen so they can turn a corner.

Reliable Respite Care

We can help you secure the services of a trained respite caregiver who can give you a break and also support the child.

Extra Stipend Based on Needs

Children in therapeutic foster care may have special requirements and you’ll get the funds you need to help them.

What is Therapeutic Foster Care and How Is It Different From Traditional Foster Care?

Therapeutic foster care is also known as treatment foster care. Foster care children and youth can benefit from a higher level of care if they:

Have special emotional or medical needs
Have mental health or behavioral issues
Have missed developmental targets
Don’t display age-appropriate behavior.

Traditional foster care offers a supportive and nurturing home environment for children who don’t have these complex concerns.

Why Are Children in Traditional Foster Care & Therapeutic Foster Care?

Children and teens of all ages enter foster care because they can’t continue living with their family of origin. These children and their families are often going through a crisis. These situations may include:

Neglect
Abuse
Traumatic experience
Unsafe home environment
Incarceration of a parent

What Are the Needs of Children in Therapeutic & Treatment Foster Care?

Therapeutic foster care and treatment foster care involve a higher level of care than traditional foster care.

A therapeutic foster home offers:

More supportive and structured home environment
24/7 care and supervision
Long-term support to function and integrate into the community
Ways to address inappropriate behaviors
Provision for medical and education needs

Learn More About Treatment Foster Care

More Differences Between Therapeutic Foster Care vs. Traditional

Training for Traditional Foster Care Parents & Therapeutic Foster Care Parents

With traditional foster care, parents must obtain 30 hours of pre-licensing training. For those providing therapeutic foster care, this increases to 37 hours of pre-licensing training. Therapeutic foster care parents also learn improved coping skills and how to manage some of the most challenging scenarios as part of training.

Both types of foster care involve post-licensing training. Traditional foster care requires nine hours. However, in therapeutic foster care, the need for ongoing support and guidance intensifies. These parents can expect to perform 28 hours of post-licensing training.

What Are the Restrictions on the Number of Children in a Therapeutic Foster Home?

With therapeutic and treatment foster care, foster parents provide more support than offered in a traditional foster care environment. For this reason, the number of children is limited.

In traditional and therapeutic foster care, the number of children you may foster depends on a home assessment to determine your capacity to provide care, protection, and experiences that enhance healthy development and offer the necessary physical space.

In therapeutic foster care, the home is considered the primary treatment setting for the child. Foster parents are provided with a high level of training and preparation to accommodate the child’s needs.

Support for Foster Parents

Parents providing traditional foster care have ongoing support, contact, and visits from their caseworker on a monthly basis. Based on the level of needs, agency support increases for those providing therapeutic care.

Caseworker contact, visits, and service coordination occurs on a weekly basis with individual support services occurring with the child at least once a month. Staff are available 24/7 to provide help and support.

Choosing the Right Foster Care Program

Making the decision to provide any type of foster care is a big decision. Whichever level of care you choose to offer, you will need significant amounts of training and dedication. You may learn about traditional foster care and then realize you have the life experience, passion, and room to provide therapeutic foster care.

It’s important to consider both options carefully and work closely with program staff to learn what you can expect.

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Help Children Like LaQuita

LaQuita is an example of a child who can benefit from therapeutic foster care compared to traditional foster care. Foster care combined with the Shineforth Child & Family Healing Center (CFHC) is what eventually helped her overcome the challenges of her past and move forward into a positive future.

Much of LaQuita’s youth was spent in constant motion, bouncing from foster home, to group home, to residential program, and back to foster home until she joined the Navy at 18. She had to overcome a lot to become the courageous person she is today and Shineforth had a lot to do with the transformation.

She said her first stint at Shineforth was especially difficult as it was during that time that her mother passed away. LaQuita said staff members were tremendous in helping her cope. LaQuita also struggled with anger issues and had a hard time controlling her temper when she was younger. But an attentive Shineforth staff and support from therapists helped her break down emotional barriers.

By providing a therapeutic foster care home, you could make a difference in a child or teen’s life so they don’t need to bounce around so many foster homes and centers. You can put an end to the chaos after a difficult start.