Community-Based Care: What is it?

The foster care system in Texas is designed to provide temporary care for children who have been removed from their homes due to abuse, neglect, or other family challenges. In recent years there has been a growing trend toward community-based care. This approach to foster care involves the creation of a network of support services within a specific community to keep children and families together and provide them with the resources they need to thrive.

Children Stay Connected

There are many benefits to community-based care in the Texas foster care system. One of the main advantages is that it allows children to remain connected to their communities and familiar support systems rather than placing them in a foster home far from their friends and family. This can be especially important for older children and teenagers, who may have strong ties to their schools and neighborhoods. Community-based care can also help children maintain their cultural and linguistic identities, which can be disrupted when they are placed in a foster home with a family from a different background.

Birth Families Receive Support

Another benefit of community-based care is that it allows families to receive the support and resources they need to address the challenges that led to their children being removed from their care. This can include access to mental health services, substance abuse treatment, and other types of support to help families address the root causes of their challenges. By addressing these issues and providing ongoing support, community-based care can help families reunify and reduce the likelihood that their children reenter the foster care system.

Foster Families Receive Support

In addition to the benefits for children and families, community-based care can also benefit foster families. Community-based care can provide foster families with access to a more extensive network of support resources, including medical providers, training opportunities, mental health professionals, and other forms of support to help them meet the needs of the children in their care.

Overall, community-based care has the potential to provide significant benefits for children, families, and foster families in the Texas foster care system. Under community-based care, families have access to resources that can prevent the need for removal, children in care remain in their home community, and foster parents have access to an expanded network of support services.