What is Therapeutic Foster Care?
South Carolina Therapeutic Foster Care: Helping Children with Higher Needs Thrive
South Carolina Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC) is designed for children and youth with more complex needs — including emotional, behavioral, developmental, psychological, and medical challenges. These children require extra structure, support, and supervision beyond what traditional foster care can provide.
TFC gives these youth the chance to stay in a safe, family-based environment while receiving the care they need right in their own community.
What Makes Therapeutic Foster Care Different?
In Therapeutic Foster Care, foster parents play a vital role in each child’s treatment and healing process. Children in TFC may have faced:
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Trauma from abuse or neglect
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Significant loss
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Unmet medical or emotional needs
As a result, they may experience confusion, anxiety, anger, grief, and fear. These emotions can be difficult to navigate — but with the right training and support, foster parents can help guide children toward stability and healing.
Specialized Training & Support for TFC Foster Parents
Foster parents who want to provide therapeutic care must complete specialized pre-service and ongoing training. This training helps prepare them to meet the specific needs of children in TFC.
Every TFC foster home is assigned a Treatment Coordinator (similar to a caseworker), who offers:
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Ongoing support
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Expert guidance
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Help with care coordination
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Additional training opportunities
Foster parents become a key part of the child’s treatment team, offering support through structured routines, skill-building, and behavior management.
Higher Expectations – and Higher Support
Because the needs in Therapeutic Foster Care are greater, the expectations of the foster parents are higher too. As a result:
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Daily reimbursement (per diem) is higher than in traditional foster care
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Support services are more intensive
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Training is tailored to real-life challenges
This helps ensure that foster families feel confident and equipped to make a lasting impact.
Foster Parents are Special People
Foster Parents Are Needed Across South Carolina
There is an ongoing need for Therapeutic Foster Parents across South Carolina. The first step to making a difference is learning more about foster care and how you can get involved.
Foster parents open their hearts and homes — sometimes for days, sometimes for years, and sometimes forever. They offer children safety, love, structure, and a fresh start.
The Power of Foster Parenting
Becoming a foster parent is both a challenge and a gift. It requires time, patience, and compassion — but it also brings deep rewards.
Foster parents are very special people. They give children:
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A place to feel safe
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Someone who believes in them
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A chance to heal and grow
Through their care, they help change lives and strengthen communities.
Ready to Learn More?
If you’re interested in learning more about Therapeutic Foster Care in South Carolina, we’re here to help.
Start your journey today — and find out how you can make a difference in the life of a child who needs you.
What are the requirements for being a foster parent?
It’s not too hard to become a foster parent but there are some minimum requirements that you, your family, and your home must meet.
What about age, race, religion, and sex?
You must be at least 21 years of age. You can be male or female and any race or religion. You can be single, married, widowed, divorced, or have a room-mate or life partner.
Do I need a lot of money?
You don’t have to have a lot of money to be a foster parent, but you do need to be able to make ends meet. Foster parents must show that they can take on the additional expenses of having foster children in their home and they cannot be dependent upon the daily foster parent payment as their source of income.
SCYAP foster families receive a tax-free reimbursement to cover basic expenses of caring for each child placed in their home. Payments are made twice monthly via direct deposit with the daily amount being based on the severity of the child’s needs and the number of days the child was placed in the foster home.
Do I have to own my home?
You can be a foster parent whether you own or rent your home. It doesn’t matter if it is an apartment, mobile home, or a house. It just has to be safe and have enough room for additional children to live, play and sleep. Foster parents are required to pass fire, safety, and health inspections and have home owners or renters insurance.
What will I need to do?
You and any other adult household member (age 18 or older) must undergo and pass background checks, including a review of past child abuse and neglect charges and a criminal background check through SLED and the FBI, and not be listed on either the State or National Sex Offender Registry.
You and all other household members (including any children residing in your home) must have a physical examination by a qualified medical professional that verifies that you (and all other household members) are in good physical and mental health.
To help you understand how to care for foster children, you will have to go to training before and during your time as a foster parent.
What about the child's family?
Foster care is meant to be temporary, and in most cases the goal is for the child to return to his or her family. Foster parents can encourage the child’s connection with his or her family by assisting with visitation, setting up telephone calls, facilitating letter writing or card sending, passing along pictures of the child to the family, etc. We will ensure that involvement with the child’s family is done in a manner that is safe and as comfortable as possible for everyone.
SCYAP offers two types of foster care in South Carolina:
- Traditional Foster Care
- Therapeutic Foster Care
Both programs provide safe, caring homes for children, but the services and expectations are different.
- Traditional Foster Care for children who need a stable, loving home but don’t require therapeutic support.
- Therapeutic Foster Care is for children who have experienced severe trauma or have emotional, behavioral, or medical needs that require additional care.
Foster parents may choose to provide one or both types of care, depending on their training, experience, and the needs of the child.
Learning more about foster care and how to become a foster parent is the first step to helping.
Submit an inquiry to let us know you are interested, and a SCYAP representative will contact you as soon as possible. There is no obligation – just an opportunity to learn more and help children in foster care. Please note that SCYAP only licenses families living in South Carolina.