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Therapeutic Foster Care

What is Therapeutic Foster Care?

Neglect, abuse, and moving from home to home creates complex trauma for kids in foster care.  They have had to overcome difficult life experiences at a young age, and sometimes, this is expressed through challenging behaviors. 

Washington state acknowledges that some kids need extra support through a Therapeutic Foster Care Program from a private agency like Youthnet.  By working closely with the state when one of these kids needs a home, our team can designate and/or locate and license therapeutic foster families that would be a good fit for the child.  Youthnet works with all levels of foster parents, but therapeutic foster parents receive more training to better support the higher level needs of these kids.

Youth in therapeutic foster care have usually been in foster care longer and are often placed in group homes or out of state due to a lack of available therapeutic foster homes.  Our goal is to increase the number of local therapeutic homes so that youth can stay in their community, in a family setting, and maintain their support system of friends, family, neighbors, and teachers.

Youthnet's therapeutic foster families and youth receive:

  • A Youthnet licensor
  • Intensive case management with a small caseload
  • Weekly home visits
  • Monthly team meetings
  • Treatment planning
  • Case aide services
  • 24/7 on-call support over the phone and in-person
  • Two days of respite per month
  • A Youthnet visit supervisor to provide transportation and supervision during your foster child's visits
  • Quarterly foster parent support groups, including training, dinner, and childcare

How can I learn more?

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