Therapeutic Foster Care is a short-term placement option where children with severe emotional and behavioral problems, who cannot safely remain with their birth families or in a less restrictive setting, or who continue to need intensive clinical services after completing a more restrictive treatment program, live as normal as possible in a family like setting while still receiving the clinical assistance they need to resolve their issues. All of the children referred to therapeutic foster care must carry a DSM-IV Axis I diagnosis and must have a full scale IQ of 65 or above. The State of Alabama Department of Human Resources is the referral source for all of the children in the program. We accept referrals from Regions V, VI, & VII, which includes Tuscaloosa, Fayette, and Jefferson Counties as well as the surrounding counties. We currently have the capacity to serve 45 children in our program.
Therapeutic Foster Care parents are provided extensive training to prepare them for this role in the children’s lives. They receive a minimum of 40 hours of initial training before they even work with their first child. They receive ongoing continuing education to reinforce their training and provide new information on general behavior management techniques as well as insight into why our children behave the way they behave.
The children receive daily Basic Living Skills training from the therapeutic foster care parents that focus on issues like personal hygiene, interpersonal skills, and behavior education. In addition, Case Specialists work directly with the children on dealing with their separation from their biological family and resolving behavioral issues that brought them to treatment. They also provide consultation and support to foster parents on techniques that they can use for their children’s specific problems. Caseloads are limited to a maximum of ten children which enables the Case Specialist to provide the individual attention necessary for these placements to succeed. The Case Specialist is on call 24 hours a day, 7 days per week, for any major problems that should develop in the foster homes that require clinical assistance. These services are provided in a home setting designed to give the children a loving and secure environment, which enables them to more easily work on and change the behaviors that have disrupted their lives or to deal with the family issues that disrupted their homes.
Brewer-Porch Children’s Center’s Therapeutic Foster Care Program is licensed by the State of Alabama Department Resources. The therapeutic foster care program can be reached directly by dialing (205) 348-0876 or our toll free number, 1-866-215-6896. To make a referral for a therapeutic foster care placement, please ask for Stacey Marlowe, Program Coordinator. If you are interested in learning about becoming a therapeutic foster care parent, please ask for Kristy Lawson, Child Placement Specialist.
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