Therapeutic Foster Care in Maine: Treatment Placements and Teen Foster Care

Children entering Maine foster care range from infants with no significant history of trauma to teenagers with years of disrupted placements, serious behavioral health diagnoses, and complex medical needs. General foster care is built for the former end of that spectrum. Therapeutic — or treatment — foster care is built for the latter.

If you're considering fostering a child with significant behavioral, emotional, or medical needs, or specifically want to care for teenagers, understanding how Maine's treatment foster care system works is essential before you apply.

What Treatment Foster Care Is

Treatment foster care (TFC) in Maine, also called "specialized foster care," is a licensed level of care for children who need more than a stable home environment. These children may have:

• Serious emotional disturbances or psychiatric diagnoses
• Developmental disabilities
• Trauma histories that produce significant behavioral challenges
• Complex medical needs requiring regular specialized care
• A history of multiple failed placements

The difference between general foster care and treatment foster care is not just the child's needs — it's the support structure around the placement. TFC families receive more training, higher board rates, clinical consultation, and in most cases 24/7 on-call backup from the agency managing the placement.

How Treatment Placements Work in Maine

Maine's Code of Maine Rules, Chapter 15 (C.M.R. 10-148) governs specialized children's foster homes, separately from the Chapter 16 rules that cover general family foster homes.

Treatment-level placements are typically managed through licensed private child-placing agencies rather than directly through OCFS. These agencies recruit and train their own families, provide clinical oversight, and contract with OCFS to provide services to the state's highest-need children.

Key agencies providing TFC in Maine:

• Spurwink Services (statewide; 901 Washington Ave, Portland): Runs "A Family for ME" and provides TFC alongside adoption services.
• Woodfords Family Services (southern and central Maine; 207-878-9663): Focuses on children ages 3–21 with developmental disabilities and emotional disorders.
• Community Health and Counseling Services / CHCS (central and northern Maine; 207-947-0366): Long-standing provider of TFC and kinship support with a rural focus.
• KidsPeace (Lisbon Falls and statewide; 207-786-8122): Specialized clinical and behavioral health focus.
• Community Care (Bangor; 207-945-4240): Intensive in-home support and therapeutic levels of care.
• Sweetser (Saco; 1-800-434-3000): Comprehensive behavioral health network with affiliated TFC services.

If you want to provide TFC, the pathway is to contact one of these agencies directly rather than starting with OCFS. Each agency has its own recruitment and approval process, though your license is still ultimately issued by the state.

Board Rates for Treatment Placements

Maine's daily board rates for treatment-level care are substantially higher than general foster care:

At Level E, that's approximately $2,404 per month. The higher rate reflects both the complexity of care and the expectation of more intensive time commitment from the foster parent.

Treatment-level families also have higher ongoing training requirements: 36 hours per two-year licensing period, compared to 18 hours for general foster homes.

Foster Care for Teenagers in Maine

Teenagers are among the most under-placed population in Maine foster care. Younger children receive far more placement interest, which means teens often age through multiple placements or end up in congregate care settings — group homes and residential facilities — when family-based placements aren't found.

Maine has been working to shift teens out of congregate care and into family settings, but the placement supply hasn't kept pace. If you're specifically open to teenagers, your application will be prioritized.

What fostering a teenager in Maine typically involves:

Educational stability. Teenagers have the right to stay enrolled in their school of origin when placement changes, even if transportation is difficult. Transportation reimbursement is available. Teenagers close to graduation can access additional support through OCFS to maintain continuity.

Extended foster care. Maine participates in extended foster care under the federal Fostering Connections Act. Youth can remain in foster care placement (or receive support services) until age 21 if they're working, enrolled in school, or have a disability preventing full employment. The AB-12 equivalent in Maine provides continued support rather than a hard cutoff at 18. For foster families caring for teens nearing adulthood, understanding this transition is important — aging out without a plan is one of the most destabilizing outcomes in the foster care system.

Trauma presentation in teens. Adolescents with long foster care histories frequently display attachment disruptions that manifest differently than in younger children — not as clinginess, but as testing behavior, emotional avoidance, or hyperindependence. TIPS-MAPP training addresses this, but families who specifically want to care for teens are encouraged to seek additional trauma-informed training before or shortly after licensure.

Training Requirements for Treatment Families

TFC families must complete:

• The full 30-hour TIPS-MAPP pre-service training (both adults in a two-parent household)
• CPR and First Aid certification
• Mandated reporter training (renewed every four years)
• Safe sleep and Period of Purple Crying (if caring for infants)
• 36 hours of continuing education per two-year period (vs. 18 hours for general families)

Private agencies like Spurwink and Woodfords typically provide much of the ongoing training themselves, with clinical consultants and specialty workshops counted toward the annual hour requirement.

Is Treatment Foster Care Right for You?

TFC is not just more of the same responsibility with a higher board rate. It requires a willingness to engage with clinical teams, participate in case management meetings, implement specific behavioral health plans, and sometimes manage crisis situations that fall outside the scope of general parenting.

The payoff — for the families and for the children — is significant. Children in TFC often have histories that make family placement seem impossible. Finding a TFC family who can provide stability and a therapeutic environment is genuinely transformative for those children, particularly for teenagers who might otherwise spend their teen years in congregate care.

The Maine Foster Care Licensing Guide covers the Chapter 15 licensing standards for specialized foster homes, the private agency contacts for TFC recruitment, and what the higher training requirements look like in practice for Maine families.

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