ASPE Research Brief: Patterns of Treatment/Therapeutic Foster Care and Congregate Care Placements in Three States

This is a shorter, summary version of ASPE’s full analytical report with a similar title, examining the characteristics and care trajectories of children in Illinois, New York, and Tennessee who receive Treatment Foster Care services compared with those receiving congregate care, traditional, non-kinship foster care, and kinship foster care. TFC is rarely used as a first placement, but states vary substantially in the extent to whether it is used primarily as a step up in intensity from a traditional foster care setting, or as a step down in intensity from a congregate care setting.