Children’s Wisconsin needs foster families who can provide treatment care

When Chastity Pomasl and Deb Turner welcomed their current foster child into their northwestern Wisconsin home, the preschooler was timid. He would not eat solid foods and was nonspeaking.

A year later, he enjoys a variety of foods, swimming and playing alongside Pomasl’s nieces and the couple’s dogs. Whereas before he didn’t want anybody to touch him, he now loves being tickled. He is even starting to talk.

“If you saw him today, you wouldn’t think he was the same kid that he was when he first came,” Turner said.

Through Children’s Wisconsin, a health care system and child welfare agency, Pomasl and Turner provide treatment foster care. This designation of care serves children who have significant physical, developmental or behavioral challenges.

Children’s averages 135 youth in its statewide treatment foster care program. The goal is to reunite the children with their biological families, but roughly 30% in Children’s program are adopted by their foster families.

Maria McDermott, director of out-of-home care at Children’s, said the agency has a dire need for treatment foster families.

In recent years, the number of families interested in providing this type of care has declined, which directly translates to fewer foster homes. In mid-2022, Children’s had 240 treatment foster care homes. Today, there are 168, McDermott said.

“It can be really, really tough at times. But in the end, when you’ve seen all the progress you can help that little one make — help them to grow and learn to trust again — it’s the most rewarding and the best feeling ever,” Pomasl said.

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Hospitalization led one family to fostering

Seven years ago, the Clark family’s lives changed.

Erin Randall-Clark and Brad Clark’s child Violet, then 10, was hospitalized with severe headaches and high blood pressure. During Violet’s two-week stay at Children’s Wisconsin in Milwaukee, doctors discovered a rare blockage of both kidney arteries. Tests revealed the Clarks’ 14-year-old, Jada, had the same condition.

The condition sparked multiple procedures, some more invasive than others, between the two girls throughout the years.

During Violet’s initial hospital visit, the Fox Valley family’s lives changed in another way. A nurse who got to know the family told them about Children’s treatment foster care program and suggested the family would be a perfect fit.

It just made sense, the couple said. Three of their five biological children have extensive medical histories, including the kidney conditions, heart defects and vision impairments.

“We’re so used to the majority of the medical field because we’ve been through so much,” Randall-Clark said. “We always joke that in our next life we’re going to come back as doctors.”

As teachers, Clark and Randall-Clark have had experience working with a variety of kids and families. That experience has proven helpful when caring for foster children with medical needs, Randall-Clark said.

The needs and ages of children in treatment foster care vary. Children’s shares information about treatment foster children with homes they think can best fit their needs. From there, foster families are able to choose whether they want to move forward with the placement.

Foster families may gravitate toward children with a particular type of need or in a specific age range.

For Pomasl and Turner, this population is neurodiverse children and those with developmental delays. The Clark family found their niche caring for children with high medical needs.

The Clarks’ first-long term placements, twins Da’miyla and Devonte, came to them when they were 10 months old in spring 2021. They were born at just 24 weeks (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines full term as 39 to 40 weeks). Da’miyla, who has an incurable heart condition, came to the Clarks with oxygen equipment and a gastronomy tube. They were told she might not live much longer.

The Clarks adopted the twins in 2023, with their birth parents’ blessing. Now 4, they are active older siblings to the Clarks’ current placement. Since coming to them earlier this year with feeding complications and developmental delays, the newest member of the family, a charismatic toddler, has made significant progress.

But, as any treatment foster family will say, there’s more to it than weathering medical storms, developmental delays or behavioral challenges.

“If you don’t have that loving home, it’s just a missing piece,” Randall-Clark said. “They can do so much at the hospital, and you can’t live without that, but you also can’t live without love and nurturing.”

All children in foster care have experienced trauma; being removed from their home in itself can be a traumatic event, said Molly McGregor, Children’s foster care recruitment specialist for the Fox Valley. A growing body of research examines the connection between childhood trauma and negative short-term and long-term outcomes.

But loving foster homes can provide hope, she said.

“We know that when kids experience adverse experiences, it impacts them in so many different ways,” McGregor said. “But we’ve also learned through this research that children are incredibly resilient. We know that when we provide that safe, loving environment for them, that is key to their ability to be resilient from their experiences.”

Children’s treatment foster families aren’t going in alone

Because children and adolescents in treatment foster care have complex needs, Children’s has robust supports for their foster families.

Each foster child has a treatment team, the composition of which varies based on a child’s specific needs. Together, the team provides everything the child and their foster family might need to succeed, from consulting with specialists to other supports or materials.

“You’re not getting a placement of a child and then everyone is disappearing,” McDermott said.

While a Children’s treatment foster care worker connects with families at least once a week, support extends around the clock.

Pomasl and Turner had one foster child who they worked with to help regulate his emotions. When he would feel angry, he would become destructive, pulling out his dresser drawers, hitting and kicking. When needed, a member of the child’s treatment team would come help him calm down.

For awhile, Da’miyla had seemingly endless doctor’s appointments. Children’s always made sure to send someone to hold Devonte during the times when only one of the Clark parents could attend. It’s little things like this, or dropping off a meal for the family, that can make a big difference, Randall-Clark said.

“Children’s is very good at communicating how grateful they are that you’re helping these kids,” Randall-Clark said.

Children in treatment foster care have state insurance, which covers necessary medical expenses — both physical and mental health care. Foster families also receive a monthly stipend that is dependent on various factors, including the child’s age and their needs. Depending on the child’s age, the state may also cover child care costs.

Randall-Clark encourages those interested in learning more, or even becoming treatment foster parents, to reach out to their local Children’s treatment foster care region. After all, inquiring does not mean commitment.

“I like to say that teaching is my job, but taking care of kids with medical needs is my career — it’s a total passion,” Randall-Clark said. “So if you feel like this is something that you’d like doing, why not look into it? We’ve had such a positive experience from the start to where we are now.”

Are you interested in becoming a treatment foster parent?

All foster parents must go through a licensing process. The exact education a treatment foster parent receives largely depends on the needs of the children they foster, McDermott explained. There is also required continuing education, which may also vary, she said.

Here are the basic requirements to become a treatment foster parent. You must:

Be at least 21 years old

Have been a parent already or provided a certain amount of treatment respite care

Have a minimum of two bedrooms in your home or apartment. You can rent or own your home

Have a monthly income exceeding monthly expenses, with documentation of income

Be in generally good health; any physical or mental health conditions must be controlled with treatment

You don’t need to be married or in a domestic partnership to become a treatment foster parent. On average, children in Children’s treatment foster care program children stay with foster families for 10-18 months, McDermott said.

Sometimes, treatment foster care does not work out for families. McDermott said if this happens, families have options. Some may choose to end their license, others may provide treatment respite care or change their license to provide care for children with less severe needs in general foster care.

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