What Is Foster Care?
Foster care is providing a stable, temporary home for children whose parents are not able to care for them at the moment. Foster care is usually needed for a temporary period of time. The average length of time a child spends in foster care in the U.S. is 12 months. During this time, the child gets cared for by a family willing to extend their love, time, and support to ensure the child has what they need until they can reunite with their parents or find a forever home.
What Is a Typical Foster Child Like?
A child in need of foster care can be any age from infant to 18, though the average age of a foster child in the U.S. is eight years old. Foster children represent various backgrounds, ethnicities, and personalities. Foster kids may be separated from their birth parents for various reasons — from financial to emotional or behavioral.
Often, a foster child is the product of the environment they’ve been exposed to. Many foster children come from backgrounds that have caused them to experience trauma, such as neglect or abuse. Some may bring with them the mental woes that come from different aspects of their trauma journey.
Other foster children may not carry any trauma and just need a place to call home until their loving parents are better able to provide them with what they need.
What Is the Difference Between Traditional Foster Care and Treatment Foster Care?
There are different types of foster care that meet the unique needs of foster children. Two of the most common types of foster care are traditional foster care and treatment foster care.
What Is Traditional Foster Care?
Traditional foster care is a common type of foster care that provides a temporary home for children who are unable to live with their birth parents. The role of foster parents in this type of care is to support the child’s health, safety, and well-being and ensure they continue to have the connections they’ve become accustomed to. That is because the goal is to reunite the child with their birth families when it is safe and appropriate to do so.
What Is Treatment Foster Care?
Treatment foster care is also known as therapeutic foster care. Treatment foster care is a specialized form of foster care designed for foster kids who have more complex emotional and behavioral needs due to traumatic backgrounds. The foster kids under this type of foster care require a higher level of support and training to help address their behavioral challenges. This may involve intensive therapy, a more structured environment, and close collaboration with mental health professionals and other professionals.
While all foster parents undergo foster parent training, treatment foster care parents undergo more extensive training to address some of the trauma. This requires a higher level of support for the foster parents and foster child through regular case management, therapy sessions, and other professionals working on the child’s behalf.
With treatment foster care, foster parents are not only providing a loving and stable home for the foster child but also working to address the underlying causes of the child’s behavioral issues.
The Benefits of Being a Foster Parent
Whether you are caring for a child that needs treatment or not, being a foster parent has many rewards.
All foster parents get foster parent training. This professional training can reap rewards for the foster kids you care for and other kids in your life. It can enhance your overall parenting skills.
When you open your home to someone in need, you’re building relationships that can last a lifetime.
When you put the needs of someone else above your own, you make an incredible difference in the lives of that individual that could ultimately be life-changing for them.
Become a Foster Parent
Whether you’re a treatment foster care parent or a traditional foster care parent, caring for a child that is not your own takes a tremendous amount of patience, resilience, care, and, most importantly, love.
If you want to change a child’s life and help them navigate life’s challenges, you may be a perfect candidate to be a foster parent. If you’re looking to make a difference in a child's life and have a safe and nurturing environment overshadowed by love, a child is looking for you. Complete our qualification form to get started!
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