Three Types of Foster Care

Types of Oklahoma Foster Care

Did you know that there is more than one type of Oklahoma foster care? Here is a quick explanation of three of the main categories.

Traditional Foster Care
Emergency Foster Care
Therapeutic Foster Care

All the above types are for children who's parents are temporarily unable to safely care for them because of abuse or neglect. In all types of foster care, the children are held in the temporary legal custody of the state while the parents work to correct their problems.

Emergency Foster Care (EFC)

When children are removed from their parents, their first stay will typically be in a juvenile shelter. From there they go to foster homes. Due to the shortage in foster homes, they often stay in shelters for days, weeks or even months. These are buildings that may contain up to 40 or more children.

Very young children are too vulnerable stay in shelters, and they need one-on-one attention so they are moved to EFC homes where the stay until a traditional home becomes available. EFC is like traditional foster care in that it is provided in individual home settings but the length of stay is shorter and it is only for young children.

To learn more about EFC contact Sunbeam Family Services

Call (405) 528-7721 or log on to: www.sunbeamfamilyservices.org

Traditional or Regular Foster Care

Children in this type of care can be aged 0 to 18. The length of stay is not limited by laws or by policy the way it is in EFC.

The children in traditional foster care may have some moderate behavioral problems as a result of their experiences before entering your home. But the problems presented should be manageable using the training you are given as part of the qualification process with and help from professionals.

For more information, click on OKDHS Foster Care on the navigation bar to the left. Or use this link:

Area III Foster Care

Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC)

This type of care is for children who present behavioral problems that traditional foster parents can not manage.

Children in traditional homes are sometimes moved to this type of care temporarily when the present difficult behaviors. TFC parents, who have had more extensive training, work to bring the behaviors to more manageable levels so that the children can be returned to traditional foster care.

To learn more about this type of foster care, check you telephone directory under Foster Care Agencies.

Some examples of agencies providing this type of care are Blair, Shadow Mountain, and Wesleyan Youth.

OkCountyKids Task Force

Information to Aid Families in Oklahoma County