Becoming an ISFC Parent
There are endless acronyms in foster care, but the one we are adding to your memory bank today is ISFC. ISFC stands for Intensive Services Foster Care.
Being an ISFC parent entails caring for children with much higher needs than the average child in foster care. Children at an ISFC level can have medical issues such as a feeding tube, life-threatening illness, a developmental or mental handicap, or severe trauma and behavioral problems that require many therapy appointments and around-the-clock care.
We have many families that have stepped up to this challenging role to meet the needs of supporting children that require an extra amount of care.
Bernard and Amber Bush are among our many incredible families that are ISFC certified. The Bush family has been certified for 17 years and has welcomed over 100 kids into their home. They currently have a young adult in their home that meets the requirement to be at the ISFC level.
One piece of advice from Amber is, “Don’t let the thought of ISFC scare you. It’s a term, and the kids will be more difficult, but the reality is that every child in foster care has every reason to be difficult in their way.”
For many children, entering foster care and being immersed with a loving family with structure will be a brand-new experience. Through time, patience, allowing time to grow and heal, and finding the resources they need, children learn the skills necessary to regulate their emotions and process them in a healthy and safe way.
Here at Children’s Hope, we are excited to champion our families and are eager to give extra support to these families willing to open up their hearts to children who need additional support. We do this by allotting extra time for the child’s social worker to spend time in your home to help our parents and the child. Our ISFC homes also have access to our agency’s behavioral specialist.
Our behavioral specialist can also come out weekly to help diffuse behaviors and develop a plan to get everyone on the right track.
If you are interested in becoming a licensed ISFC home, please contact us at (530) 846-4955 to start your journey today.