Our commitment to success and determination to build permanent connections for vulnerable youth remain central to uniting children with nurturing, stable, and committed families. Through various pathways to permanency youth can achieve lasting family bonds.

Explore the diverse services available to Resource Families that help support these permanent connections:

Short-Term, Safe Haven

Respite Care offers short-term support to help current resource families recharge. Respite caregivers welcome a youth into their home for a few days at a time, giving the child’s full-time caregiver a chance to rest, tend to other responsibilities, or take care of their own well-being. 

Respite homes are a vital part of the foster care community. They help prevent burnout, strengthen placement stability, and give youth a safe, supportive space to land. This is a great option for families who want to make a difference in a flexible, meaningful way. 

Traditional Foster Care

Standard Treatment Foster Care (STFC)  offers children and teens a safe, consistent place to land live while plans are made for their future. Many of these youth are working toward reunification with their families, and resource families play a critical role in supporting that process. When reunification isn’t possible, caregivers may also help the team identify and support other long-term permanency options that meet the youth’s needs. 

Foster to Adopt

Foster to Adopt: When determined as the best option for the youth by the courts, Resource Families may become an adoptive family through Concurrent Planning, an approach that seeks to shorten a youth’s stay in foster care by exploring more than one permanent family solution at a time. While returning a youth to their family of origin is the primary case plan for a youth in foster care, concurrent planning involves the parallel pursuit of an alternative permanency goal (i.e., adoption) that would best serve the youth in the event reunification is not possible.

Specialized Care

Complex Care, also known as Enhanced Care, is a short-term, in-home program for youth with high emotional or behavioral needs who might otherwise be placed in a group or residential setting. Instead, they’re matched with specially trained resource families who can provide structure, patience, and a healing home environment. 

The goal is to help youth stabilize, receive individualized support, and take steps toward a more permanent or less intensive living situation. Families work closely with a team of professionals who provide reliable support, crisis response, and specialized training to help them meet the youth’s needs. 

This program includes Enhanced Intensive Services Foster Care (EISFC) and Emergency EISFC, both offered in partnership with Sacramento County Child Welfare to respond quickly to youth in crisis and support their long-term well-being. 

Resource families are the foundation of this work—offering connection, safety, and care when it’s needed most. 

Intensive services Foster Care is a supportive foster care option for youth who need more than traditional care but not as much as Complex Care. These youth may be working through emotional, behavioral, or mental health challenges and benefit from a stable, structured home with a caregiver who is open, patient, and supportive. 

ISFC resource families receive extra training, monthly support groups, and ongoing coaching to help them feel confident in meeting youth where they are. A higher reimbursement rate is also provided to reflect the level of care. 

We encourage all families to consider becoming ISFC-approved. It allows for greater flexibility in matching youth with homes that are equipped to meet their individual needs. 

Kinship Support Services

Kinship Support Services helps kin and other non-related extended family members to navigate the Resource Family Approval process to support a specific foster youth known to them. Through the process, Kinship Support Services provides them with information, community resources, education, and other services focused on Kinship Care. helps relatives) and close family friends—known as kin or NREFM (non-related extended family members)—who are stepping in to care for a child they already know and love. Our team walks alongside kinship caregivers as they navigate the Resource Family Approval (RFA) process, offering one-on-one support every step of the way. 

We provide guidance, community resources, and education tailored to the unique experience of kinship care. Whether kin are just starting the approval process or already caring for a youth, we’re here to make sure they feel informed, supported, and connected.