What Is TFCO?
Treatment Foster Care Oregon is an alternative to locked care settings
Treatment Foster Care Oregon (TFCO) is an evidence-based practice developed as an alternative to locked care settings for children and youth. TFCO offers intensive, clinical treatment in a community-based, family setting. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and Wayne State University have partnered to provide oversight for the TFCO initiative in Michigan alongside the purveyors of Treatment Foster Care Oregon, TFC Consultants.
In Michigan, TFCO is being offered as an evidence-based model for Children’s Therapeutic Foster Care (CTFC), a Medicaid mental health service for children eligible for the Waiver for Children with Serious Emotional Disturbance (SEDW) through the Prepaid Inpatient Health Plan/ Community Mental Health Service Provider (PIHP/CMHSP) system.
Michigan is implementing two TFCO models: TFCO-C for ages 7-11 & TFCO-A for ages 12-18
Youths are individually housed in highly trained TFCO Therapeutic Homes and are provided with intensive support and mental health treatment. During the time the child is in the TFCO Home, parallel intervention is happening for the youth’s Aftercare Family (biological, adoptive, or committed caregiver). Involvement of the youth’s family is required from the outset of treatment to create a parallel intervention model and preparation for post treatment care. TFCO intervention typically lasts 6-9 months.