Giving families and foster families the tools, resources, and caring guidance to achieve their goals.  

Are you a biological, adoptive, or foster family parenting a high risk, high needs child?  Are you feeling lost and unsupported in your pursuit to keep the child in your home?  Our family and foster care services can fill this gap for you and tailor services to your needs.   

Through assessment of your child’s strengths, history, current behavioral concerns, and in collaboration with you, we will develop an individualized service and treatment plan with goals and specific actionable steps for you and your child to achieve.  Our approach enables every family member to experience success through skills training, hands on assistance to implement service plans, regularly scheduled respite to rest and find relief, and case management services to connect you with professional resources and natural supports in your community. We pride ourselves in building strong relationships, participating with your family, sharing vital information and resources, and walking through the parenting or foster care journey with you. 

SA offers the support you need as a parent to manage daily challenges, find community with other parents, and enrich your experiences with your child. Our goal is that you do not feel alone in your endeavors to parent, that you are wholly supported during a crisis, and that ultimately, your family finds the harmony and balance necessary to achieve your goals. 

Appropriate for:

  • Foster parents

  • Biological families
  • Relative placements

  • Department of Children, Youth, and Families Social Workers

  • Behavioral Rehabilitation Service program managers

Customized Service Plans 

Complete Wraparound Services 

Access to 24/7 Crisis Response  

Program details

  • Parenting skills training

  • In home, hands on assistance to develop and implement treatment plans

  • Regularly scheduled respite
  • Case management services to connect with resources and natural supports in home community

  • Children are afforded the stability of remaining in their family home, while benefiting from specialized professional assistance to guide them toward success

Testimonials

“Our experiences in foster parenting are positive and we feel blessed. Our biological adult children have been very supportive. Sometimes there are frustrations, however, we have come to accept the behaviors, anxiety, developmental challenges, and we understand that every child is unique. We have learned that sometimes we need to take a slower pace, giving our foster child two or three-step commands, repeat, be patient, and accepting of the outcomes. We enjoy working closely with the care team at Service Alternatives.”

Kathy B & Mary G, Foster Parents

“Many foster kid feel the need to engage in negative behaviors to get attention, because any kind of attention is better than no attention at all. I try to catch them doing something good and let them know when they do it. It’s amazing to see the smile on their faces, when somebody recognizes them engaging in positive behaviors, instead of negative ones. It actually encourages them towards more future positive behaviors.”

Linda C, Foster Parent

“We feel good about being foster parents, we have been fostering for 19 years. We are committed to working with children that require special needs and we feel that we are making a difference in children’s lives with a safe home, healthy environment, and we are also helping society. For us, foster parenting has been positive and rewarding. Especially when receiving feedback from the team, DCYF, the agency – Service Alternatives, as well as teachers and paraprofessionals, on a child’s progress while in our care.”

E & D, Foster Parents

“We are thrilled to continue providing a loving and caring home to children in out-of-home care. Especially for the opportunity to be a resource and receive a three-sibling set that we had for respite on several occasions prior; and we had the possibility for becoming a long-term placement.  Keeping the siblings together and the services we received from Service Alternatives were extremely beneficial in helping the children in so many ways such as stability, academically, and emotionally. We were so happy to have been a stable resource for these children until they moved into a relative placement. We haven’t experienced any major issues and we’ve been fostering for 16 years. Overall, foster care has had a very little negative impact on our family. My husband is very supportive, and I am a very passionate caregiver, enjoy helping children, and being a part of changing their lives for the better.”

Kathy & Dwayne E, Foster Parents

“I feel that I am getting things together.  I’m also making better choices.”

Youth, Treatment Foster Care

“We are always very excited when we can get a kid into SA services”

Lori, DCYF Program Manager

Get in touch

It takes a village to raise a child, and we would love to be part of yours.