Why Be a Therapeutic Foster Parent With Vanessa Baie, MSW, LCSW
- Latest News
- November 8, 2024
Becoming a therapeutic foster parent allows you to provide a stable, supportive, nurturing home-based environment for a child that has experienced more profound trauma and needs greater support to manage their mental health and healing. Helping a child navigate and begin healing from challenging circumstances and trauma can be deeply fulfilling. Therapeutic foster parents can find a greater sense of purpose and growth in their own lives as they work to meet the needs and provide love and support for these children.
Children needing therapeutic support are all genders and between the ages of 12-18 years old. They are children that have thrived in residential care and are deemed appropriate for home-based care as they have made enough progress therapeutically in the residential setting.
As a therapeutic foster parent, you will be provided necessary training, mentoring support, and a collaborative team to ensure the best outcome for the child placed in your home for therapeutic support. Wrap-around services for the child’s specific needs are provided, along with 24/7 support. Support is also provided directly from the residential care center that has already spent time caring for the child to help with a smooth transition from the center to your home.
Foster parents for this specific program should have a passion for helping children and work part-time or not at all. This form of foster parenting is meant to be caring for children in a more professional capacity to ensure more significant mental health care is available for them. While there are requirements for less work outside the home, therapeutic foster parents can expect to receive reimbursement for this care that could be considered a second household income.
Therapeutic homes for One Hope United are needed immediately in Lake, Clinton, Jefferson, Marion, and Washington counties. You are welcome to join in this capacity whether you hold a current foster parent license, have been licensed prior, or have never been licensed in any capacity.
Becoming a therapeutic foster parent allows you the opportunity to provide children within this population with the specialized support, resources, and attention they need and might not receive elsewhere. With your committed compassion and guidance, you provide these children with support that has the capacity to change the entire trajectory of their lives.
Find yourself inspired to learn more about becoming a therapeutic foster parent? Join us on November 13 at 7:30 pm for a virtual event.
Vanessa comes with ten years of child welfare experience. She began working initially in foster care as a Permanency Case Worker and then moved into other positions in the field including; foster parent licensing, administration, quality assurance, and risk management, and most recently in clinical social work as a Therapist and Parenting Educator for birth parents and children involved with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Vanessa earned a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Jane Addams College of Social Work at UIC and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with the state of Illinois. She is also a Licensed Direct Service Child Welfare Employee and is Rule 402 and Child Care Act certified. She is currently a PhD student in Clinical Social Work with the Institute of Clinical Social Work in Chicago. Vanessa is deeply passionate about child welfare and committed to improving outcomes for the safety and well-being of all children in Illinois.
Vanessa comes with ten years of child welfare experience. She began working initially in foster care as a Permanency Case Worker and then moved into other positions in the field including; foster parent licensing, administration, quality assurance, and risk management, and most recently in clinical social work as a Therapist and Parenting Educator for birth parents and children involved with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Vanessa earned a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Jane Addams College of Social Work at UIC and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with the state of Illinois. She is also a Licensed Direct Service Child Welfare Employee and is Rule 402 and Child Care Act certified. She is currently a PhD student in Clinical Social Work with the Institute of Clinical Social Work in Chicago. Vanessa is deeply passionate about child welfare and committed to improving outcomes for the safety and well-being of all children in Illinois.
About Let It Be Us
Let It Be Us is an Illinois 501(c)3 and licensed child welfare agency dedicated to changing the landscape of foster care and adoption in Illinois. The mission of Let It Be Us is to provide collaborative, innovative solutions of effective recruitment and placement for children in Illinois foster and adoptive care. The Let It Be Us vision is for all children in the Illinois child welfare system to achieve educational equity, employment equity, and overall well being through the incorporation of Let It Be Us Programming into statewide advancements in foster care adoption recruitment and placement. For more information about Let It Be Us, visit www.letitbeus.org.
