Thompson Child & Family Focus was recently awarded a three-year grant of $484,168 by the trustees of The Duke Endowment to expand foster care in three eastern North Carolina counties: New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender.
Thompson will grow needed foster home capacity to meet the increased needs due to the opioid epidemic and what many are predicting to be a spike in underreported child abuse reports due to COVID-19.
With this funding, Thompson will replicate its proven foster care model in eastern North Carolina using Together Facing the Challenge, the evidence-based, affordable, sustainable model to equip foster parents in providing trauma-informed care to the youths in their homes.
Key activities include staff training, foster parent recruitment and training, and ongoing data collection and program monitoring.
For decades, Thompson has worked in the therapeutic foster care realm, but it also provides comprehensive, wraparound services, including family education, mental health, medication management and intensive case management.
Thompson has grown its foster care programming statewide to over 200 foster homes and is expected to grow beyond 300 licensed homes in the coming three years across North Carolina.
“Thompson has a track record of building capacity for therapeutic foster homes, and we are pleased to support their evidence-informed model as it expands into eastern North Carolina,” said Tamika Williams, associate director of the Endowment’s Child and Family Well-Being program area.
“We know there is a great need for foster care in eastern North Carolina for some of the community’s most traumatized and challenging youth who have been impacted by the opioid crisis and other adverse childhood experiences,” said Matt Simon, chief program officer at Thompson. “We are incredibly excited and humbled to partner with The Duke Endowment to ensure that even more youth are supported in stable foster homes.”
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