Therapeutic Foster Care

Therapeutic Foster Care is a step below Residential Therapy. Children live with specially trained foster parents who are members of the Trillium therapy team assigned to a boy or girl in our care.

Therapeutic Foster Care is often used by children moving from residential treatment into a more homelike environment. They require a more structured therapy environment than returning home, for example, but they also are ready to practice many of the skills they learned in a residential setting. They may attend a therapeutic school on one of Trillium's campuses, or they may attend a community school.

Therapeutic Foster Care also is used as an alternative to Psychiatric Residential Treatment. One of Trillium's treatment philosophies is to provide care to children and families in the least restrictive environments. We know children do best in therapy in the most comfortable environments possible given the severity of their mental illness. Some children not need the more structured living environment of residential care but may need more structure than is available through Day Services or Outpatient Therapy. 

What Happens in Therapeutic Foster Care?

Children live in foster homes with highly qualified, professional foster parents who are trained to work with children suffering with mental illnesses. The foster parents generally see to the day-to-day needs of the children their care, and they work in concert with the Trillium therapy team assigned to your child.

Foster parents help children work on their skills in the homelike environment in which children need to succeed when they complete the Therapeutic Foster Care Program.

Therapeutic foster parents have 24-hour access to Trillium's staff and services, including Trillium's Mobile Crisis Team in the event of a mental health crisis. And children still undergo intensive therapy that could include Outpatient Therapy, Day Treatment Services or other combinations of Trillium programs.

As with all of our therapy programs, families are strongly encouraged to participate in the therapy process. Therapeutic Foster Care may include practice visits home, where the family implements many of the skills they've learned through the therapy process in anticipation of children returning home permanently.

When children complete therapy, the treatment team works with you and your child to utilize newly learned behaviors and take the skills home. Staff discuss discharge plans with parents or guardians and determine the best way to provide a strong support system in a child's home, school and other everyday settings. This often includes working closely with teachers, school counselors, and other important figures in a child's life.

back to top