Each agency has different foster care types for families to choose from. The type of foster care you decide on will depend on your needs and the needs of the foster child. In this blog post, we will discuss the types of foster care available through Choices For Life, so that you can make a decision about which one is right for you.
Traditional Foster Care
Traditional foster care is intended to be a temporary arrangement in which trained caregivers (foster parents) provide 24-hour-a-day care in a home environment for children whose biological parents are unable to care for them. Reimbursement rates for foster care are calculated using a per-day rate based on the child’s age. This is what most people think of when someone mentions “foster care.”
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Therapeutic Foster Care
TFC is a powerful and unique model of care that provides children with a combination of the best elements of traditional foster care and residential treatment centers. In TFC, the positive aspects of a nurturing and therapeutic family environment are combined with active and structured treatment. TFC provides a clinically effective and affordable way to provide individualized and intensive treatment for children and adolescents.
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Intensive Treatment Foster Care
ITFC is a foster care program that matches a child with severe emotional and behavioral needs with a highly trained foster home. Once placed, the child receives services through the treatment team, which includes the foster parent, licensed therapist, care coordinator, and others depending on the issues facing the child. The goal of the program is to move the child toward his or her permanent resource in six to nine months. This is the most intense level of service provided in a foster care setting.
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Specialty Foster Care
The Choices For Life specialty foster care (SFC) program provides prescriptive care to families and children so that both can be restored to health and optimum use of the child’s and family’s strengths. It is specialized foster care for children and youth with multiple psychological, social, and emotional needs who can accept and respond to close relationships within a family setting, but whose special needs require more intensive or specialty service than are found in traditional foster care settings. The additional needs of the child may require comprehensive support services, such as training, consultation, and respite care for foster parents to prevent placement disruption.
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If you are interested in making a difference in the lives of children in your community, contact us to learn more about becoming a foster care parent and open the door for a child to be able to see his or her choices for life.
Click here for contact information for our Georgia and Oklahoma offices.