Senators Rob Portman (OH) along with Tammy Baldwin (WI) have reintroduced the Treatment Family Care Services Act, which seeks to increase access to treatment family care services, including by requiring HHS to issue guidance outlining opportunities for states to fund treatment family care services through Medicaid, the Payments for Foster Care and Permanency program, or other HHS programs.
In Treatment Family Care (TFC) care, guardians, foster parents, and caregivers are given special training to address the needs of youths with major mental health challenges and children receive intensive in-home services to sustain them in the community.
TFC provides critical services to nearly 50,000 children across the country, working to keep particularly vulnerable youth out of costly and sometimes ineffective residential and congregate care and providing needed clinical therapy options to youth instead of overmedication.
The Treatment Family Care Services Act would provide states with clear guidance on federal TFC standards under the Medicaid program and other available federal funding streams.