The Family Corner is a Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC) program designed to serve children and youth who require individualized, intensive foster care services in Clinton, Essex and Franklin counties.

Therapeutic Foster Care is an approach that caters to the physical, emotional and social needs of children and youth in a supportive family setting until the child’s family can be reunited or a permanent placement can be arranged. The program is funded through contracts with the counties and referrals are generated solely through the Local Departments of Social Services. The Family Corner is intended to serve as an alternative to more restrictive levels of care such as a residential treatment centers or congregate care settings. The program allows children to remain in the community while
involved in treatment.

The purpose of the program is to utilize foster families to work with hard to place children and youth in their homes. The foster household is viewed as the primary treatment setting, and the foster parents are trained to implement the goals outlined in the child’s treatment plan. These goals include: community integration, meeting the medical needs of the children, promoting pro-social behaviors and supporting the child's educational needs. These goals are carried out under the direction of a treatment team assigned to each child. The team is made up of the foster parents, therapeutic case manager, the child and his/her family, the county case worker and other community resource professionals for the child. Support from all of the team members allows the child to benefit from a home environment and community-based setting while receiving treatment and services.

The program includes strong supportive backup for the foster families as well as, if appropriate, extensive support and contact with the child’s family of origin. The child and both families receive 24 hour on call crisis support.

The program serves children, birth through 21, who have difficulty being maintained in a regular foster care setting. These are children who require individualized, structured treatment. Optimally, placement involves a matching process with the goal of placing the child in the foster home that is most capable of meeting that particular child’s individual needs.

The goals and objectives of the Family Corner’s Therapeutic Foster Care Program are to:
§ prevent placement of children to a more restrictive, distant and/or expensive program;
§ facilitate the coordination of all community services provided to the child and his/her family;
§ coordinate, develop and implement an effective service plan process that includes participation and involvement from all family and community resources that are involved with the care of the TFC child and their family;
§ promote either the successful return of the child to their family, where appropriate, or the improvement of relationships between the child and his/her family
§ provide support to the child’s family;
§ support children to promote success in their community educational placements;
§ encourage participation in ongoing TFC and other therapeutic supports and services.

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