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For many Arkansas children, there is no place like home—literally. Each year, thousands are removed by court order from their parents’ homes because of abuse or neglect. Many suffer severe behavioral or emotional problems that require therapy and treatment. What should be a given becomes a special need for these children: a stable environment that provides love, nurturing and guidance.

When placed in traditional foster homes, troubled children typically don’t receive the therapeutic services they require and often end up being moved to institutional settings. However, there is an alternative: specially trained therapeutic foster parents who offer both a loving, caring home and the expertise of helping troubled children.

Martin and Patty Booker are such a couple. Parents of Seth (10) and Ethan (7), they have fostered five children since 2009. It was their deep Christian faith and desire to serve that drew them to foster care. “It was like the answer to my prayers,” Martin said. “I had read the whole Bible and knew we all have to do works to earn a crown in Heaven. Foster parenting seemed like the work I could do to earn that crown.”

The Bookers chose to be trained as therapeutic foster parents because it enabled them to take in children who needed special treatment and support. Training was provided by Treatment Homes Inc. (THINC), a non-profit mental health organization based in Little Rock. THINC was founded in 1983 by a group of 13 foster parents and a professional social worker who recognized the need to recruit and train foster families to provide treatment services in a family setting. THINC doesn’t charge for any of its training and support. It receives funding from contracts with the State of Arkansas to provide treatment services to foster children, Medicaid, private donations and fundraising activities.

Providing Needed Services At Home

Therapeutic foster families act not only as caregivers and nurturers, but also provide treatment and support for troubled children inside the home. In contrast, in traditional foster care, these children receive any necessary treatment outside the home. The Bookers attended an intensive, 30-hour training course and participated in crisis management, CPR and community first aid training. They continue to participate in monthly training to assist them in providing these services in a family setting.

A professional social worker visits their home once a week, and THINC professional staff is available around the clock to offer support when needed. A course called Crisis Prevention Intervention was of special help. According to Patty, the class taught the family how to deal with aggressive behavior such as biting and hitting and how to work with the child to modify his behavior.

Witnessing such successful outcomes—how troubled children slowly start to respond to guidance by developing desirable behavior—is one of the most rewarding experiences of foster parenting, both Martin and Patty agree. “When they start listening to us and when we see their behavior changing, that’s a really good part of foster parenting,” Martin said.

Of course, the changes may not happen overnight. “You have to take a lot of time, and you have to be a very patient person,” Patty said. “You may have some [foster] children who never had any rules and structure.”

Caring for children with emotional or behavioral problems can cause some trying moments, and occasional second thoughts, but never for long. “In all honesty, sometimes I want to give up,” Patty explained. But she rallies right away. “You have to put yourself in the shoes of these children and realize why they behave like that. You wonder how they can move on after what they’ve been through. Everybody has to have a cheerleader in their corner, and these kids have nobody but us. We’re the only ones who fight for them.”

And so the good fight goes on. “You pour yourself into these children’s lives and show them, this is what life can be,” Patty said. “You want to show them, yes, you’ve had a bad experience, but this is what life can be.”

Many foster children are eventually reunited with their own family. Others become eligible for adoption. Some never leave the foster care system until they reach adulthood. “It’s a bittersweet moment when they go because you’ve become attached, “Patty said. “The first two times, it can tear your heart out. I cried for a whole week.”

Approximately 3,500 Arkansas children are currently in foster care. OF those, approximately 300  are in therapeutic foster care, and more therapeutic foster parents are urgently needed. How does one decide about becoming a foster parent? Patty offered this advice: “Pray about it, seek guidance. If the thought has been put in your heart, then you know it’s right.”

More information about foster care in Arkansas: