About Therapeutic Foster Care

Therapeutic Foster Care is a relatively recent form of out-of-home care developed in the mid 1970s.

Therapeutic Foster Care is a union of two different modalities of care for abused children, combining aspects of residential treatment programs and traditional foster care.

Therapeutic Foster Care began in Alabama in 1989 with the awarding of 4 separate contracts to 4 agencies designed to develop 16 Therapeutic Foster Care homes for 16 foster children. The theory underlying Therapeutic Foster Care is that properly trained foster parents who receive professional support and are more appropriately compensated can care for children that are more difficult.

Treatment is provided to the therapeutic foster children by their foster parents under the supervision of trained professional staff.

Alabama has over 5,000 foster children, and each one of these children has a history of abuse and neglect. In order to enter the foster care system, a child must, by necessity, go through serious emotional or physical trauma. The incidence of emotional and behavioral disturbance is understandably high in foster children.