Understanding Enhanced Intensive Services Foster Care (E-ISFC)

Family-based care can offer children and youth consistency, connection, and the everyday experience of belonging to a household. Some young people, however, have complex behavioral health, emotional, or medical needs that require a more intensive and coordinated level of support.

Enhanced Intensive Services Foster Care, or E-ISFC, brings specially trained resource parents together with caseworkers, behavioral health professionals, county partners, and other providers around an individualized plan. The goal is to help a young person receive intensive services and support while living in a family setting.

E-ISFC reflects AFS’s commitment to meeting each young person where they are and surrounding them with a broader network of support.

What is E-ISFC?

AFS’s E-ISFC program builds on California’s Intensive Services Foster Care model. The California Department of Social Services defines ISFC as an intensive program delivered by a Foster Family Agency in a specially approved resource family home. Depending on the young person’s needs, the program may include specialty behavioral health or medical treatment, an FFA social worker, clinical or in-home support services, nursing support, Child and Family Team participation, and 24-hour crisis intervention.

The enhanced model provides additional flexibility and resources for children and youth whose needs cannot be fully addressed through existing foster care programs or funding structures. These arrangements may be developed for an individual young person or an entire program in partnership with a county, service provider, and CDSS.

A note about terminology: AFS refers to its program as Enhanced Intensive Services Foster Care, or E-ISFC. California’s statewide service category is ISFC, while current CDSS rate guidance uses the related term “ISFC Plus” for enhanced individual or program arrangements established through the Innovative Model of Care framework. The exact services and resources available may therefore vary according to the young person’s needs, the approved program model, and the county agreement.

How Does E-ISFC Differ from Other Foster Care Services?

All children and youth deserve attentive, individualized care. E-ISFC differs primarily in the intensity, frequency, and coordination of the services provided to the young person and resource family.

Key features may include:

• A coordinated team: The resource parent works closely with an AFS social worker and a broader team that may include clinicians, in-home support counselors, registered nurses, county social workers, educators, and other providers, depending on the young person’s needs.
• Specialized preparation and coaching: Resource parents receive additional training tailored to the young person’s behavioral health, emotional, medical, developmental, and educational needs. Training is reinforced by ongoing consultation and support after placement.
• Responsive support: AFS provides round-the-clock access to crisis response and management, along with added respite and intensive assistance from caseworkers and social workers. Monthly treatment meetings help the team review progress, respond to changing circumstances, and remain aligned with the young person’s Needs and Services Plan.
• Individualized services: Supports may include behavioral health care, educational coordination, family reunification services, mentoring, life-skills development, and other services identified by the team.
• Enhanced financial resources: Resource parents receive a monthly foster care reimbursement and may receive additional program-specific financial support. These resources help meet the young person’s daily and specialized needs and reflect the additional time, training, coordination, and caregiving responsibilities involved.

Resource parents are not expected to manage complex circumstances alone. They are essential members of a larger team that shares information, coordinates services, responds to challenges, and adjusts the plan as the young person’s needs evolve.

A focused, time-limited service

California describes ISFC as a short-term intervention, generally lasting approximately 12 to 18 months, with the goal of helping a young person make progress toward the objectives in their Needs and Services Plan. The timeframe is a planning estimate rather than a one-size-fits-all deadline. Decisions about transitions and continuing support should reflect the young person’s individual circumstances, progress, relationships, and case plan.

The purpose is not simply to manage behavior or move a young person through a program. E-ISFC teams work to understand what behavior may be communicating, identify effective strategies for regulation and connection, strengthen important relationships, and create a more sustainable path forward.

The next step will look different for every young person. It may involve reunification with family, placement with relatives or another permanent caregiver, continued care in the existing resource family, or a transition to services with a different level of intensity.

Supporting resource parents throughout the placement

Caring for a young person with complex needs requires patience, flexibility, consistency, and a willingness to work collaboratively. It does not require one person or family to have every answer.

AFS supports E-ISFC resource parents through specialized training, regular communication, treatment planning, respite, case management, clinical consultation, and crisis response. Resource parents contribute their day-to-day knowledge of the young person, while the professional team helps translate that knowledge into coordinated strategies and services.

This partnership allows resource parents to focus on what family life can uniquely provide: consistent relationships, dependable routines, shared meals, school-day encouragement, celebrations, boundaries, opportunities for connection, and a place to belong.

AFS: A Trusted Partner for Counties to Meet Complex Needs

Since 1978, Alternative Family Services has worked alongside children, youth, families, resource parents, and community partners throughout Northern California. As counties seek family-based options for young people with increasingly complex needs, AFS has become a trusted partner in developing individualized services that combine skilled caregiving, behavioral health support, and responsive case management.

E-ISFC reflects AFS’s commitment to meeting each young person where they are and surrounding them with a broader network of support. By equipping resource parents and service teams with a larger toolbox, the program helps create opportunities for greater safety, connection, continuity, and progress toward each young person’s goals.

Interested in learning more about E-ISFC or becoming an AFS resource parent? Visit the AFS Foster Services page or contact our Resource Family Recruitment team at (800)300-1022 or rfarecruitment@afs4kids.org.