 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
What is Heart of the Community, Inc.?
What is a therapeutic foster home?
What is the difference between a foster home and a therapeutic foster home?
Under what circumstances might a child be placed in a therapeutic foster home?
What characterizes youth who would be served by Heart of the Community, Inc.?
How do children qualify for the program?
What are the advantages of a therapeutic foster home placement?
What is required to become a therapeutic foster care parent?
What are the benefits to families who choose to become therapeutic foster parents?
What is Heart of the Community, Inc.?
Heart of the Community, Inc. is a corporation invested in providing support to children who are in need of therapeutic foster care assistance due to abuse, neglect, or a diagnosis of mental retardation, developmental disability, mental illness or a family's inability to support the child. Our focus is to provide care that identifies each child's strengths and challenges and that directly assists foster parents in building the child's strengths and in addressing his challenges.
What is a therapeutic foster home?
A therapeutic foster home is one in which the foster parents have been trained to provide a structured environment that supports the learning, social and emotional skills for youths with significant emotional or behavioral problems who cannot live in their biological homes, either for their own safety or the safety of family and community.
What is the difference between a foster home and a therapeutic foster home?
Therapeutic foster parents are given advanced training in the general skills required to care for severely emotionally disturbed children as well as specific training geared to meet the needs of the child who has been placed in their home. Parents in therapeutic foster homes are more closely supervised and assisted more than parents in regular foster homes.
Under what circumstances might a child be placed in a therapeutic foster home?
Children and adolescents served by Heart of the Community, Inc. might be placed in the program upon removal from their family home, following disruption of placement in another foster home, or upon successful completion of a residential program.
What characterizes youth who would be served by Heart of the Community, Inc.?
Children eligible for therapeutic foster care range from infants to age 18, although they are typically school aged. While the Heart of the Community, Inc. program primarily serves Alamance County, children from surrounding counties (up to 150 miles from the Heart of the Community, Inc. office) may also be considered for placement. Therapeutic foster children may have:
• been abused physically, emotionally or sexually;
• faced many different challenges;
• experienced some type of major trauma which has resulted in behavioral and emotional issues;
• had several failed placements;
• difficulty in multiple settings, including home, school or in the community.
How do children qualify for the program?
In order to qualify for the program, children must:
• be a ward of the referring county department of social services, Local Management Entity (LME) or county juvenile probation department;
• have emotional and/or behavioral problems to the extent that they are at risk for institutional placement;
• be recommended for care by the county LME or court ordered into specialized therapeutic foster care placement.
What are the advantages of a therapeutic foster home placement?
• Children are placed in natural home settings with trained families
• Service is developed to meet the needs of both the involuntarily and voluntarily placed child
What is required to become a therapeutic foster care parent?
Therapeutic foster care parents are chosen in part on the basis of their acceptance of the program's treatment philosophy and their ability to practice or carry out this philosophy on a daily basis. In addition to providing for a child's basic physical needs of food, clothing, shelter and medical care, foster parents offer instruction, supervision, positive role modeling, and appropriate discipline. There are certain qualities which may be taken into consideration, including: professionalism, a sense of humor, enjoyment of children, flexibility, tolerance and the ability to adjust expectations concerning achievement and progress to the child's individual needs and abilities. Other requirements include:
• Twenty-five years of age or older
• Extensive background check
• Cooperation commitment of one year
• Forty (40) hours of pre-service training
• Cooperating with weekly in-home visits
• Transporting child to appointments
• Attending the required foster training sessions
• Participating in support groups and home visits
• Working with child's biological family
• Engaging in the child's treatment
• Cooperating with DSS with the long term goals for the biological family
What are the benefits to families who choose to become therapeutic foster parents?
• Professional growth
• Increased self and personal growth
• Recognition from children, the community and the agency
• Formal training and support
• Improved parenting skills
• New friends
• Financial reimbursement
• Respite care when needed
• A sense of helping families and children toward health and wholeness
Where can I get additional information on becoming a therapeutic foster parent with Heart of the Community, Inc.?
Please contact Heart of the Community, Inc. staff at (828) 586-5577 or (828) 736-3402 for more information about getting involved in the program. Remember there is continued need for more foster families for youth ranging from infants to teenagers.