Become A Therapeutic Foster Parent

Denali Family Services’ therapeutic foster program offers intensive behavioral health services and supports within a healthy family setting, enabling youth to thrive in their community.

Since 2019, there has been a 43% decrease in available foster homes in Alaska.

Today, Alaska has nearly 2,500 youth in foster care, with many waiting to be placed. Some of these youth live with mental and behavioral health issues that need specialized treatment. In the past, some of these youth have been institutionalized or sent out of state for treatment due to several factors, including a lack of homes available for placement.

Denali Family Services’ (DFS) therapeutic foster care program offers these youth (aged 3 to 21), and the families that care for them, invaluable support within a community-based family setting.

Therapeutic foster parents fulfill all of the roles and responsibilities of traditional parenting, while also working with the youth’s therapist, case manager, and other treatment team members to ensure they understand the unique developmental and behavioral health needs of each youth so they can nurture and support growth and progress in the lives of the youth they serve.

Benefits of Becoming a Therapeutic Foster Parent

Therapeutic foster care is a more specialized form of fostering, where parents are trained to care for children with emotional, behavioral, or mental health challenges. Therapeutic foster families can be either single-parent or two-parent homes, and can provide either full-time or part-time care.

Becoming a therapeutic foster parent offers many benefits, both for the foster child and parent, such as:

Specialized training and support with a professional DFS team
Weekly financial compensation (plus up to $1,500 for first time families)
24/7 on-call support
In-house clinical and case management services
Access to respite services
Individualized treatment planning
Support from licensing supervisors

Licensing & Training

The State of Alaska, Office of Children’s Services has licensed DFS as a Child Placement Agency. This means that we recruit and license foster homes to care for youth with emotional, behavioral, or mental health needs enrolled in services with DFS.

As a potential therapeutic foster parent, DFS will:

Assist you through the licensing process
Provide you with trauma-informed and evidence-based training designed specifically for you
Provide therapeutic services to the foster youth, such as community or school support, case management, and other clinical services as needed
Support you through the State’s licensing process and provides all the training you need to provide trauma-informed care
Answer a 24-hour call line to provide support and resources

As a foster parent, you are part of the treatment team for the foster child with the goal of helping them thrive in their respective homes, schools and communities.

Interested in becoming a Therapeutic Foster Parent?

Anchorage (907) 274-8281

Wasilla (907) 376-3275