Prioritizing Mental Health for Youth in Foster Care

At Alternative Family Services (AFS), we know that every child and family entering the foster care system is coping with profound change and loss. Separation from family may have a significant emotional impact. Each youth we serve carries their own story of grief, resilience, and hope.

Recognizing this, AFS places Mental Health Services at the heart of our mission. We believe that healing begins with safety, trust, and connection. Mental health care must be as individualized as every child we serve.

Understanding the Depth of Need

Youth entering foster care often carry the weight of adversity, including neglect, abuse, instability, or exposure to violence. The transition into foster care itself can be deeply traumatic, compounding existing stress and uncertainty.

AFS provides family-centered, community-based care that addresses the full spectrum of mental health needs. We collaborate closely with schools, caregivers, biological families, child welfare workers, and community partners to create a holistic support network for each youth.

A Multi-Faceted Approach to Healing

AFS delivers mental health services across a variety of settings, including homes, schools, community spaces, and AFS offices, because we know healing happens where children live, learn, and grow. Our Community & Home-Based Services allow clinicians to support families in their own environments, strengthening relationships and reinforcing coping skills in real time.

To meet the complex needs of foster youth, AFS integrates both evidence-based and evidence-informed practices that promote lasting healing:

Evidence-Based Practices:

• Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT): Supports youth coping with PTSD and other trauma-related symptoms.
• Motivational Interviewing (MI): Encourages self-driven change by strengthening a youth’s motivation and commitment to personal goals.
• Positive Parenting Program (Triple P): Empowers parents and caregivers to understand youth behavior, manage challenges, and provide thoughtful, consistent support.

Evidence-Informed Practices:

• High-Fidelity Wraparound: A strengths-based model that focuses on individual and family needs rather than problems, engaging the whole support system in planning and care.
• WisdomPath Way Reparative Parenting (WPW-RP): A culturally responsive parent coaching model that equips caregivers to nurture and stabilize children with significant emotional and behavioral challenges.
• Integrated Listening Systems: A multisensory program using music, movement, and mindfulness to support emotional regulation, focus, learning, and sleep.

Supporting Stability at Every Stage

Mental health care is fundamental to stability and long-term success for foster youth. AFS tailors its services to meet youth and families wherever they are in their journey:

• Placement Stabilization: Helping foster families strengthen relationships, resolve conflict, and create emotionally safe environments.
• Reunification: Working directly with biological families to rebuild trust, communication, and healthy patterns for lasting reunification.
• Emancipation: Providing intensive one-on-one support for youth transitioning to independence—helping them access education, housing, and community connections for stable adult life.

AFS also offers Individual and Family Therapy for a range of emotional and behavioral needs, as well as Therapeutic Visitation Services designed to rebuild family bonds.

Through a partnership with Alameda County, our Gathering Place program provides a safe, supportive environment where parents and children can reconnect and heal together.

Expanding Access Through Innovation

To ensure timely, equitable care, AFS offers Telepsychiatry services in Alameda County. A secure, bilingual telehealth program providing psychiatric evaluations, medication management, and follow-up care. Telepsychiatry helps reduce wait times, eliminate transportation barriers, and increase continuity of care for children and families.

A Continuing Commitment to Mental Wellness

Foster youth often face greater mental health challenges than their peers, and their well-being requires consistent, compassionate support. At AFS, we remain steadfast in our commitment to addressing these needs through innovative, trauma-informed care. Every therapy session, home visit, and moment of connection moves us closer to our vision of a world where every child can heal, grow, and thrive.

AFS places Mental Health Services at the heart of our mission. We believe that healing begins with safety, trust, and connection. Mental health care must be as individualized as every child we serve.

Note: AFS mental health services are available exclusively to foster youth and families served by Alternative Family Services in Northern California.