Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC)
Pima County / Maricopa County / Pinal County / Yuma County / Santa Cruz County
- Children placed in TFC homes can have heightened emotional and behavioral needs that require intensive parenting skills.
- This is a rewarding way for skilled and/or experienced parents to provide foster care.
- In most cases, these children have been removed from their families and have lived in various group homes and/or more restrictive settings.
- Stability and safety are important needs for therapeutic foster children.
- Therapeutic foster children look to the foster parent for structured but nurturing support and to learn how to be a part of a healthy family unit.
- Therapeutic foster children must learn how to function in the self-care, future planning, social, academic, leisure/recreational and community realms without the support of their biological families.
- Because many children requiring therapeutic foster care come from a background of abuse and neglect, each child and their foster family are assigned a coordinator.
- The coordinator aids in problem-solving and behavior-management strategies.
Objective of the Therapeutic Foster Care Program:
Transition each child into a permanent family setting—to a DES foster family, adoptive family or biological family for reunification—that will provide permanence.
- Parent candidates need to have one year of verifiable work experience with Special Needs children and/or a bachelor’s degree in one of the Social Sciences.
- Couple candidates need to ensure that one of the two is home at all times and available to the child throughout each day.
- Each child you foster in your home needs their own bedroom.
- Partner with Intermountain Centers and espouse the agency’s philosophy of providing a caring teaching environment for any youth in your care, rather than solely a custodial environment.
- Your home is free of weapons and alcohol.
- Agree and comply with a contract to provide TFC Services as an Independent Contractor with Intermountain Centers.
- Complete the following additional training:
- Arizona Professional Foster Parenting Classes – 18 hours
- CPR/First Aid – 4 hours
- CPI (Crisis Prevention Institute) Training – 8 to 12 hours
- Behavioral Health Documentation and Incident Report Writing – 2 hours
- Medication Handling – 2.5 hours
- Behavioral Concepts – 3 hours
- Practicum – 12 hours
(833) 528-0182 Contact Us For Foster Care Services
Please follow this link for more information on the steps to become a foster parent: https://dcs.az.gov/fosteradoption/steps-becoming-foster-parent
For more information, please contact:
Jack Smith, Foster Care Recruiter
Phone: (520) 241-2448
Fax: (520) 407-5398
Maricopa County
Danielle Gross, Foster Care Recruiter
1515 E Osborne rd. Phoenix, AZ 85013
Phone: (480) 651-2711
Email: dgross@ichd.net
Yuma County
Victor Durazo, Foster Care Recruiter
2545 S. Arizona Avenue
Yuma, AZ 85364
Phone: (928) 919-9304