What is Congregate Care?

‘Congregate care’ refers to a wide range of out-of-home placement settings including: Group homes, residential treatment facilities, emergency shelters, and in-patient hospitals1. Under the Family First Act (FFA), congregate care settings must be licensed as Qualified Residential Treatment Programs, to receive funding through FFA.

The Family First Act and Congregate Care

The Family First Act impacted congregate care settings by: Establishing requirements for placement in residential treatment programs; improving the quality and oversight of services; allowing federal reimbursement for care in certain residential treatment programs for children with emotional and behavioral disturbance requiring special treatment.

When a youth leaves a foster care facility or institutional care (like a treatment center), what supports will be most helpful for them to integrate back into a family setting?

  • Provide counseling for the youth and their caregivers

Support counseling or mentorship to help the youth and youth's family/friends to understand how to integrate and help the youth integrate back into a new normal. Often times the youth has a hard time explaining to their friends and family what they have been through and what they need to feel safe/secure. This can help the family to know what the youth needs and helps the youth feel more comfortable integrating into their new role. 

- Robyn, Community Partner from South Carolina

  • Develop a transition plan that relies on existing relationships and community supports

Develop a transition plan (these plans aren't just for youth "aging out') I think motivation, education & consistency is key. Maintenance and retention of healthy relationships and permanent connections to caring adults is vital. Utilize community outreach and resources.

- Raven, Birth Parent, Relative Caregiver from Louisiana

  • Connect the youth with a mentor, who will aid them in transitioning back into a home environment

To help integration happen, support the growth and development of relationship skills by providing access to mentors, peer support and give youth opportunities to vent safely. Help us feel safe in the big new world we have to learn how to navigate. Give us peers who have been there-done that so we can see that we can do it too! Celebrate us and help us learn to celebrate ourselves.

- Tecoria, Birth Parent, Former Foster Youth and Advocate from South Carolina

  • Prepare and train foster parents, kin caregivers, and birth families for the unique challenges that come with a youth transitioning back into a home environment

Constant movement from one place to another may lead to a lack of trust or hesitancy to build relationships for fear new people will also be taken away from them. Preparing foster parents for that reality and encouraging transparency in the process as much as possible may be the best way to support young people who are, without fault of their own, now part of a system that can cause further trauma.

- Dana, Community Partner from South Carolina

Source: Quotes from lived experience leaders were pulled from Family Voices United’s Share Your Perspective Paper on Supports for when a Youth Leaves a Foster Care Facility or Institutional Care Treatment Center.