Foster Care Services
Foster care has been at the heart of what we do since 1979. NCYF partners with the Departments of Youth Services, Children & Families, and Mental Health to offer foster care placements for children, regardless of their background.
Our foster parents are among the best in the Commonwealth! They're highly trained in therapeutic approaches and know how to work with children with a variety of mental health backgrounds.
Their strong foster parenting skills, combined with compassion and empathy makes it possible for them to provide safe, nurturing care within a supportive home environment.
Safe Passages
Our Safe Passages foster care program is designed specifically for children with high risk behaviors, such as sexually inappropriate behavior or fire setting. A highly-specialized team works with children in this program to:
- promote positive coping skills
- establish healthy behavior
- maintain community safety
The program includes weekly individual therapy, group therapy and medication management.
Are you a parent worried about your child in foster care? Do you wonder what their temporary home is like?
- All foster parents must pass rigorous background checks and complete 30 hours of foster parent training, CPR and first aid training, before they begin to care for your child.
- All foster homes meet strict criteria for house safety, cleanliness and maintenance.
- Case workers visit homes every week to provide support to the foster parent.
- Foster parents must follow the strategies outlined in your child’s plan.
Want to know more?
- We have more than 100 foster homes throughout Massachusetts.
- Our staff matches a child based on the child’s clinical needs, desired geographic location and ethnic/cultural considerations.
- A foster home resource specialist is assigned to each foster home for ongoing training and support.
- Case management support is available, depending on the specific needs of the child and/or foster parent.
- Crisis intervention and 24-hour on-call support are also available.
- Whenever possible, our goal is to help children transition safely back into their families and communities.
For more information, please contact our central intake coordinator. We look forward to working with you!
Be a foster parent!
Are you a caring adult wondering what it would be like to become a foster parent? Click here for more information on foster parenting with NCYF.