Treatment Foster Care Oregon

Domain V · Systemic, relational, group & community · Patricia Chamberlain · Oregon, USA

What it is

Treatment Foster Care Oregon (TFCO; called Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care, MTFC, until about 2015) was developed by Patricia Chamberlain and colleagues at the Oregon Social Learning Center (OSLC). It is a programme, not a single therapy. A youth who would otherwise go to group or…

Format

• TFCO-C (7–11). Uses behaviour charts and daily routines with tangible rewards that cannot be lost once earned. Weekly individual therapy, about 2 hours of skills coaching and weekly family therapy.
• Individual (youth) therapist, master's level.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• TFCO-P (3–6; formerly MTFC-P, OSLC/Fisher). Uses simple immediate reinforcers such as stickers and star charts. A weekly 2-hour therapeutic playgroup replaces much of the skills coaching. Targets behaviour problems, emotion regulation and developmental delay. The birth or permanent family has a weekly 1-hour skills session.
• Family therapist, called Birth Family Coach in UK materials, master's level. Parent Management Training knowledge is desirable.
• Version followed: TFCO-A (adolescents, 12–17/18) as published by TFC Consultants, Inc., Eugene, Oregon (the 2015 TFCO-A Foster Parent Manual, plus the purveyor's programme descriptions on CEBC, the Foundations Guidebook and Blueprints). Where TFCO-C (ages 7–11) and TFCO-P (ages 3–6) differ, this is noted. The TFC Consultants staff manuals (Team Leader, Individual Therapy, Family Therapy, Skills Coach, Behaviour…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Staff giving the youth mixed messages, and roles blurring.
• Children overwhelmed by group size. Keep groups small and routines predictable.
• Carers who avoid calling because they fear being judged. Praise them for calling.
• The youth hearing the programme as a sentence. Link each part to the youth's own goals.
• Relational aggression shown in school or online rather than at home. Ask about it directly.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.