Tennessee
“Foster Parent Jayne Faulkner recently had a youth placed in her home. He had been through 3-4 of homes before finally settling there. He continued to have behavior outbursts, however he was able to maintain in their home for 6 months due to the implementation of TFTC interventions and has now been able to move to a kinship home. Ms. Faulkner adjusted her house rules to fit this child’s needs. Instead of being rigid with the rules she helped him manage his emotions by Using effective communication to address his thoughts feelings and behaviors during an outburst where rules were broken. This helped him link his emotion to the behavior response. She utilized problem-solving techniques by giving him a replacement behavior when he was upset. Specifically, she allowed him to go outside and throw ice cubes to get his frustration out. This process also interrupted the conflict cycle and forced the outburst to stop and the family to move on in a positive direction. The Faulkners tracked positive and negative behaviors to ensure the he was on the right medication, and were able to provide this information to the medical staff to help guide them in the right direction. The Faulkners used praise and family fun time to encourage positive behavior. They built a strong therapeutic relationship with him so spending one on one time with them became a priority and motivator for him. They also used respite regularly to promote self care. Through the use of these TFTC interventions the youth was able to be given a chance at stability, he was able to work through big emotions, and get to a place where he could be reunified with siblings and family.”
Lawrenceburg Region (Krissy Keeton)
“Foster Parent Jayne Faulkner recently had a youth placed in her home. He had been through 3-4 of homes before finally settling there. He continued to have behavior outbursts, however he was able to maintain in their home for 6 months due to the implementation of TFTC interventions and has now been able to move to a kinship home. Ms. Faulkner adjusted her house rules to fit this child’s needs. Instead of being rigid with the rules she helped him manage his emotions by Using effective communication to address his thoughts feelings and behaviors during an outburst where rules were broken. This helped him link his emotion to the behavior response. She utilized problem-solving techniques by giving him a replacement behavior when he was upset. Specifically, she allowed him to go outside and throw ice cubes to get his frustration out. This process also interrupted the conflict cycle and forced the outburst to stop and the family to move on in a positive direction. The Faulkners tracked positive and negative behaviors to ensure the he was on the right medication, and were able to provide this information to the medical staff to help guide them in the right direction. The Faulkners used praise and family fun time to encourage positive behavior. They built a strong therapeutic relationship with him so spending one on one time with them became a priority and motivator for him. They also used respite regularly to promote self care. Through the use of these TFTC interventions the youth was able to be given a chance at stability, he was able to work through big emotions, and get to a place where he could be reunified with siblings and family.”
Knoxville Region (Karen Terrazas)
“As a caseworker who uses TFTC, the biggest benefit that it has brought into my work life is the focus to specific details. Discussing monthly good behavior with foster parents helps us remember the positives in what often seems to be overwhelming situations. It helps us track our goals and remember that progress is being made even if it is often small. In some particular cases I have worked on, delays in socially functioning behaviors seemed overwhelming. Making goals, noting what would be done in home helped myself and the foster parent team and plan positively reinforcing interventions collaboratively. Those children are doing wonderfully now. Still with growth and goals, but consistency was imbedded in our month with them and while their delays would typically seem overwhelming and cause many homes to disrupt, they have remained placed in the home since being brought into custody, over a year ago. Another key element in TFTC is that we ask our foster parents monthly their stress levels and how we can better help them. The comment I receive often is how cared for they feel, just by my asking how they are and what I can better help them with. It’s the focus of our conversations and the teaming that this helps bring between a case worker and a foster home that makes it a successful method of planning and intervention.”
Elizabeth Norwood
Resource Coordinator III
MA, Applied Behavior Analysis
Omni Family of Services, Knoxville Region
North East (Kim Martin)
“Labeled praise, even regarding simple small things can prove so significant, especially when a child has been denied positive attention in their past. It’s so special to see a child’s eyes light up when they feel proud of themselves and start to feel more confident.”
Sarah Marshall – Foster Parent
“Youth was struggling with expressing her emotions in an appropriate way (kicking, screaming) and FM has been able to incorporate TFTC interventions that allow youth to express her emotions appropriately. FM has been able to incorporate time outs (14) and relaxation techniques (22) after her time out. FM works with youth to “smell the roses” (deep breathing) and sprinkling her with “kindness dust” so that she can go about her day and show kindness to others. Youth will come up to FM and ask her to sprinkle kindness dust on her own time when she’s feels like she needs it as well. “
RC Kaitlyn Crussel
Upper Middle
“We have a new foster parent in Clarksville that is doing a great job with TFTC practices. She is a single lady that has a challenging 5-year-old boy placed in her home. The youth has been through most of our homes and has struggled to keep stable due to his aggressive and compulsive behaviors. She has been able to make a connection with the youth through relationship by consistently showing that she is paying attention to him and his needs.
She remains calm through all of his behaviors which is a different reaction than he’s used to. She points out his negative behaviors that previously got him disrupted by reminding him of how she has seen the opposite and positive behaviors from him. She also gives him time to reflect and tells him he can come back and talk to her after his reflection period and have a do over for correction. These actions have all been very effective.”
Dana Bradley
North Carolina (Michelle Brewer)
“One of our TFC parents uses TFTC to provide a trauma-informed approach to building connections with the youth in her home. She makes impactful relationships with each child that comes into her home. She knows they carry around that invisible suitcase full of “red balls” and works with them to try and fill it with experiences and provide the “green balls”. She has had two teen girls with behavioral issues that come from their trauma background. She remembers to not personalize and uses the strategies from the TFTC training to work with the teens. In one case the youth ran from the home. Several months later when she made contact with the foster parent, she was accepted back and the foster parent began helping her work through everything. The second youth left the home for re-unification but has recently returned due to issues that arose with the re-unification. Both teens felt comfortable reaching out to the foster parent due to the impactful relationship that was built with the foster parent while they were in the home.”
Crystal Nunnemaker
Kentucky (Eric Morton)
Lexington, KY
“TFTC has given foster parents effective strategies to utilize when dealing with challenging situations. TFTC is a tool that RC’s can easily develop with foster parents and become more familiar with each child’s behavior, to best serve their individual needs. As an RC, I have found while communicating with the foster parents about interventions, the RC is able to gather information that may otherwise have gone unnoticed. Also, this interaction allows for reflection and brainstorming as to how best to serve the child and parent. TFTC promotes positive interactions, praise, daily check ins, self-awareness and interventions, all in which are essential to fostering a therapeutic relationship. TFTC provides the opportunity to have a collaborative approach to behavior modifications.”
Melissa Case, BS
Resource Coordinator
Omni Family of Services
Paducah,KY
“TFTC (Together Facing the Challenges) has provided me with an abundance of tools to share with my foster parents in order to create a working toolbox for them. Foster parents are often looking for ways to create relationships or to face conflict, and at times they are at a loss. I am able to pull one of our 26 different strategies and share that knowledge with the parents. I have parents who swear by TFTC and are able to tie almost every action they take back to one of the 26 strategies, reporting success and progress.”
Brianna Brown
Resource Coordinator
Omni Family of Services, Paducah
