Become a Foster Parent
Why Foster? “Children entering foster care need and deserve loving, safe, secure homes. Let’s work together to meet their needs!”
Becoming a foster parent is an important decision.
We are here to walk you through the process from start to finish. We answer your questions, guide you on your journey and support you at every step.
Information Session
The journey to becoming a foster parent begins with an informal Information Session. The session is designed to introduce you to our organization and how we operate. We will share the requirements and expectations of foster parents as well as the eligibility requirements. From there, you are able to submit your application and start the steps towards becoming a verified foster home!
Residential Programs
Trel’s Home for Children provides two separate and distinct General Residential Operations (GROs) to children in state foster care.
GRO: Emergency Shelter
Our Emergency Shelter is licensed to accept children into emergency care and can function as an assessment center, by providing short-term residential care and rapid medical, psychological, and developmental assessments to help caseworkers select an appropriate caregiver at the start of a child’s stay in substitute care. Trel’s Emergency Shelter extends additional services to foster youth while in our emergency care including participating in many normal childhood experiences, community involvement, stabilization and treatment services, employment assistance, life-skills and counseling services.
GRO: Residential Treatment Center (RTC)
Our Residential Treatment Center (RTC) is a general residential operation that provides child-care and treatment services to children with emotional disorders. The RTC can provide a wide range of services including but not limited to child care services, emergency care services, transitional living services, and treatment services, all within the same setting. RTCs comply with all Minimum Standards as if 100% of the children in care require treatment services. This includes services to individual children, personnel requirements, and child/caregiver ratio requirements. Trel’s RTC offers a home-like setting in the least restrictive environment possible to help stabilize and prepare children for future foster home placement.
Building Bridges Initiative
Trel’s Home for Children has fully embraced the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), a nationally recognized framework developed with the goal of improving outcomes for residential intervention programs by identifying and implementing policies and best-practices in three primary focus areas:
Family Driven Care Practices to increase family engagement and promote family restoration. Family members who stay connected and involved in their children’s lives and the decisions that impact the children are better equipped to function well as a family after the end of their stay in a residential program. Therefore, families are invited to participate with their children’s service plans and family bonding experiences to any extent they are legally authorized to do so.
Youth-Guided Care Practices promote Youth Voice and Choice principles to empower and encourage youth to play an active role in the decisions that affect their lives. At Trel’s we invite our youth residents to be involved in a variety of roles, such as meal planning and preparation, staff training, planning and providing input into activities and outings, and serving on a rotational basis with the Trel’s Youth Advisory Board. All of these opportunities help the youth in our care to feel heard and to know they have an important voice in their situation.
Natural Supports are a significant element of BBI. The intent and goal is to identify life-long natural supports for each child in care that will continue to serve, guide, support, mentor, or care for them as they reach adulthood and beyond. Every child needs supportive, caring people in their lives and finding those individuals who are prepared to commit to being that lasting support is critical to a child’s long-term well-being, growth and healthy development. Trel’s assists with identifying healthy and appropriate natural supports that will carry forward with the child even after they leave our residential care program.