Foster Homes for Children With Disabilities
Agency-supervised private family homes that provide alternative family living arrangements for children with developmental disabilities, sensory impairments, physical disabilities or multiple disabilities who are unable to live with their birth parents. The arrangement provides an opportunity for the child with a disability to live with a family in a residential setting.
Group Homes for Children and Youth With Disabilities
Facilities that provide an alternative living environment for children and youth with developmental disabilities, sensory impairments, physical disabilities or multiple disabilities who are in need of personal services, supervision and/or assistance essential for self-protection or sustaining the activities of daily living and who are unable to live with their own or a foster family. Residents often attend on-grounds schools or public schools and also receive services that focus on the development of self-help, self-care, socialization, prevocational and independent living skills. Group homes for children with disabilities are generally licensed by the state and may be distinguished according to the level of service residents require. Service levels depend on the self-care skills residents possess, their limitations in the areas of physical coordination and mobility, and the presence and extent of behavior problems including disruptive or self-injurious behavior.
Group Homes for Dependent Children
Facilities that provide an alternative living environment for children and youth who have been neglected, abused or abandoned or have had contact with the juvenile justice system, who are unable to live with their own family or a foster family and who would benefit from a professionally supervised, structured group environment. In some situations, particularly with older youth, a group home is the only option available. Group homes for dependent children are generally licensed by the state.
Kinship Care
Arrangements in which the full time care, supervision, nurturing and protection of a minor child is the responsibility of a grandparent, aunt, uncle or other relative, member of the child’s tribe or clan, godparent, stepparent, friend of family or another adult who has a long-standing relationship with the child or the family in situations where the child cannot live with his or her parents. Types of kinship care include informal agreements between family members or with a non-relative; kinship caregiver arrangements in which the caregiver has physical custody but the children’s protective services agency has legal custody; kinship guardian arrangements in which the caregiver has both legal and physical custody; and kinship foster care in which the caregiver is a licensed foster parent and has physical custody of the child while the children’s protective agency has legal custody.
Supervised Living for Older Youth
Programs that help older children in foster care, emancipated youth who are no longer eligible for foster care and/or other youth, usually to age 21, establish residence in private homes, apartments, boarding homes, college dormitories or other residential settings and provide supervision and support while they develop independent living skills.
Therapeutic Group Homes
Programs that provide an alternative living environment and mental health treatment services in licensed, non-secure facilities for children and adolescents with significant emotional or behavioral problems who have some capability to engage in community-based activities. Although the types and combinations of treatment vary, treatment services typically include individual, group and family counseling, behavior modification, vocational training, recreational therapy and skill building. Therapeutic group homes are generally licensed by the state; offer a less restrictive treatment environment than residential treatment, but are more restrictive than therapeutic foster care; and are located in the community where residents attend local schools.
