Therapeutic, Emergency, and Specialized Foster Care in Georgia

Traditional foster care is one category in Georgia's tiered system. Families who are prepared — or willing to prepare — for higher-need placements have options beyond the standard model. Here is what each specialized category involves, who it is right for, and how to pursue it.

Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC)

Therapeutic Foster Care is designed for children with significant emotional, behavioral, or psychiatric challenges — children who have experienced severe trauma, have diagnoses like PTSD, RAD (Reactive Attachment Disorder), or serious behavioral issues that require skilled clinical management at home.

TFC homes in Georgia receive higher per diem rates than traditional foster placements. The exact therapeutic add-on varies by the child's documented needs and level of care designation. TFC caregivers also receive:

• Advanced training in behavior management and crisis intervention (beyond the standard 34-hour NTDC curriculum)
• Ongoing clinical supervision and support from the licensing agency
• More intensive caseworker contact

Who licenses TFC homes: Private CPAs dominate this space. Agencies like StepStone Family and Youth Services (North and Central Georgia), CHRIS 180 (Metro Atlanta), and Bethany Christian Services specialize in therapeutic placements and provide the necessary clinical wraparound support. Standard county DFCS offices generally do not have the infrastructure to manage TFC placements directly.

What TFC requires of families: A higher tolerance for behavioral disruption, a commitment to structured routines and therapeutic parenting techniques, and an understanding that the goal is stabilization, not immediate connection. Many TFC caregivers are experienced foster parents who chose to pursue advanced licensure. Some are mental health professionals. It is a demanding role — but the support infrastructure is also much stronger than traditional care.

Emergency Foster Care

Emergency foster care placements happen outside normal business hours — evenings, weekends, holidays. A child is removed from an unsafe situation and needs shelter within hours. DFCS maintains a list of approved emergency foster homes who have agreed to accept short-notice, short-term placements.

Emergency placements are typically 30 days or less while DFCS arranges a more permanent placement or relative care. Some emergency placements transition into longer-term arrangements if the family and child are a good match and longer-term placement is needed.

To be designated as an emergency home, you must be fully licensed and notify your RD worker or private agency that you are willing to accept short-notice placements. Some families prefer to specifically opt in to emergency care; others list it as a preference alongside their standard availability.

Emergency foster care is one of the highest-need roles in the system. Georgia consistently has more children needing emergency placement than there are homes available.

Foster Care for Infants

Infants in Georgia foster care — children under 12 months — enter the system through a variety of circumstances: birth parents with substance use disorders, unsafe living conditions, medical fragility, or parental incapacity. Most infant placements have active reunification plans.

Georgia recommends (but does not strictly require for all licensure) that caregivers of infants receive pertussis (whooping cough) and influenza vaccinations. In practice, DFCS placement workers may factor vaccination status into matching decisions for infant placements.

Infants who were exposed prenatally to opioids or other substances may require additional support during withdrawal periods. Your licensing agency should provide specific training for NAS (Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome) management if you are matched with a substance-exposed newborn.

Annual in-service training hours for families caring exclusively for infants under 12 months are 8 hours (vs. 15 hours for other foster parents). This reduction acknowledges the intensive nature of infant care.

Foster Care for Teenagers

Teenagers represent the most urgent unmet need in Georgia's foster care system. Older youth — particularly those aged 14 and up — are the hardest to place and the most likely to age out of care without permanent family connections.

Fostering a teenager requires a different skill set than fostering younger children:

• Strong boundaries combined with genuine respect for autonomy
• Tolerance for testing, pushback, and attachment avoidance behaviors
• Willingness to engage with school systems, case plans, and peer relationships
• Understanding of Independent Living services and Transitional Living resources that teens in Georgia may access

Some teenagers are in DFCS custody because of parental neglect or abuse. Others have had multiple prior placements and carry significant loss and abandonment histories. The therapeutic skills that help younger children also apply, but teens require a more peer-respectful approach.

Older teens in Georgia foster care are eligible for Chafee Independent Living services — educational supports, housing assistance, and life skills programming. Being knowledgeable about these programs makes you a more effective advocate for the youth in your care.

Military Family Foster Care

Georgia is home to Fort Moore (Columbus), Fort Stewart (Savannah), and Robins Air Force Base (Warner Robins). Military families who want to foster face specific administrative challenges.

License transferability: If you move to Georgia on a PCS order and hold a foster care license from another state, that license does not automatically transfer. You must re-apply through Georgia DFCS or a private CPA. However, your prior training and home study documentation can often be used to expedite the process.

Child care subsidies: Military families can access Child Youth Services (CYS) child care subsidies for foster children. Coordination between DFCS and the installation's Military and Family Support Center is sometimes required — start that conversation early.

Deployment and extended absence: If a primary caregiver deploys, your foster care arrangement must be reviewed by DFCS. Have a plan documented before deployment — who is the backup caregiver, how is the child's continuity of care maintained, and what documentation does your licensing agency need.

Specialized fostering in Georgia is where the need is greatest and the support infrastructure is most developed. The Georgia Foster Care Licensing Guide includes a section on each care level — requirements, which agencies to contact, and how to document your home's suitability for specialized placements.

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