9 CAR § 40-762. Therapeutic foster care

(a)(1) Therapeutic foster care (TFC) is a specialized form of foster care that provides a wraparound plan for children who need more intensive case management to meet their individual needs. (2) TFC is a family-based service delivery approach supported by licensed mental health professionals, as recognized by Arkansas Medicaid, that provides individual treatment for children, youth, and their families. (3) Therapeutic foster parents are specially trained and more intensively supervised and supported to help them care for children with more complex needs. (4) Children may need TFC as a result of disruptive behaviors, mental health issues, true findings of sexual abuse, or numerous unsuccessful placements. (5) In addition to the Division of Children and Family Services, each child in a therapeutic foster home is assigned a case manager who is active in the child’s daily life through more frequent contact, medication management, and therapy. (6) The goal of therapeutic foster care is to stabilize children in their communities so they can achieve permanency through reunification with caregivers or through adoption. (b)(1) The division contracts for therapeutic foster care with licensed providers across the state. (2) All referrals for TFC will go through the SPU to ensure that placement is in a child’s best interest and, if possible, that a child remains close to their home county. (3) A referral does not guarantee placement as TFC may not be appropriate for every child. (4) Additionally, a child may be placed on a waiting list until the provider can secure an appropriate placement. (c)(1) A resource home may not be both a TFC resource home and a division resource home. (2) However, a child experiencing foster care who does not require therapeutic foster care may be placed into a TFC home only in the following circumstances: (A) He or she is a sibling of a child in the TFC home; (B) He or she is a child of a youth in the TFC home; and (C) He or she had previously been receiving TFC services in that TFC home. (d)(1) Before placing a child experiencing foster care who does not require therapeutic foster care into a TFC home with a child receiving TFC services, the potential risk to all children shall be considered. (2) Justification of the appropriateness of the placement shall be documented. (e) If a TFC home wishes to become a division resource home, all applicable minimum licensing standards and division policy requirements must be met by the foster home.