Intensive Treatment in Foster Care is an intensive therapeutic program designed to help children and youth with significant mental health symptoms and impairments in their functional abilities who are currently living in family foster care settings. It is intended to help maintain placement stability and prevent the need for a higher level of care, to support families during transitions from foster care, or as a step down from residential placements. Intensive Treatment in Foster Care enables children to get the care and treatment they need while living in safe, stable home environments. These services are delivered using trauma informed, evidence based practices to achieve the treatment outcomes identified in the child or youth’s individual treatment plan. Provider agencies are certified by the Department of Human Services’ Behavioral Health Division.
Intensive Treatment in Foster Care is eligible for children living in licensed family foster care, kinship or pre-adoptive placements under the age of 21. Children and youth must be diagnosed with a mental illness, and display functional impairments which require a need for intensive therapeutic services to help maintain safety in the home and community.
FAQ
Intensive Treatment in Foster Care is a Medical Assistance billable service. We are not certified to see Wisconsin Medical Assistance clients.
ITFC is an intensive service which includes individual, family and group psychotherapy and psychoeducation, 24 hour crisis assistance, clinical consultation, and treatment planning. Services are provided using a team approach.
ITFC is an intensive intervention and family support program with therapeutic services provided 3 times per week by licensed mental health professionals or supervised clinical trainees guided by evidence based, trauma informed principles of care. Meetings occur at times and places it is most convenient for children and families, including foster, biological, kinship or pre-adoptive family homes, schools, daycares, or in other community settings.
Anyone can refer a child or family to Intensive Treatment in Foster Care. This includes biological or foster parents, therapists, counselors, social workers, psychiatric and medical providers, inpatient care settings, PHP’s and residential treatment programs.
Intensive Treatment in Foster Care (ITFC) Therapists are not trained in providing parenting assessments to determine appropriateness for placement. ITFC therapists can work with parents and support reunification through psychoeducation and psychotherapy, but cannot be utilized to make recommendations for visitation or placement. Nor can they supervise a visit between a child and another party. This would go against their primary role as therapist to the child and the family. An ITFC therapist may ask to be present (as appropriate) during a visit in order to provide joint services to a child and family member. If current visitation is not allowed by the court, the therapist will not and cannot provide joint sessions between a parent and child. The therapist will work with the child’s team to determine what additional therapeutic interventions would be appropriate to include at that time.