TAFS foster care
An Opportunity to Thrive
Philanthropy makes this access possible.
For Youth Facing Real Barriers
Youth in foster care settings often carry complex trauma, repeated placement disruption, attachment injury, and a deep expectation that adults will leave.
Many are navigating anxiety, depression, grief, behavioral dysregulation, and substance use – often layered together.
TAFS Foster Care provides something many of them have never experienced: consistent relationships, clear expectations, and healthy adults who keep showing up.
A Program Built Through Partnership
Adolescents heal through consistent relationships, meaningful structure, and peer communities that promote responsibility and hope.
The TAFS Model pairs licensed clinical care with relational engagement — built around consistent adult presence, trauma-informed care, and collaborative coordination with the facilities where youth already live.
What Success Looks Like
TAFS Foster Care delivers its full model inside residential treatment and supervised independent living homes.
We combine Medicaid-reimbursed clinical care with donor-funded engagement to produce measurable improvements in emotional regulation, treatment engagement, school attendance, and life-skills development.
Our goal is simple, readiness for adulthood.
Why It Works
28 dedicated clinicians across 25 homes deliver individualized assessments, treatment planning, cognitive behavioral therapy, and substance use disorder services. Alongside clinical care, structured engagement builds the connection and community that makes healing possible.
Saturday Camp
Twice monthly, youth gather for a safe, engaging environment built around games, sports, music, and connection — designed to reinforce community and pro-social skill building.
Summer Camp
Our 10-week Summer Camp provides a fun, structured environment during summer months — keeping youth engaged, connected, and building skills when school is out.
Pro-Social Holiday Events
Twice monthly, youth gather for a safe, engaging environment built around games, sports, music, and connection — designed to reinforce community and pro-social skill building.
"Our primary goal is to ensure every kiddo experiences excellent customer service service and meaningful support throughout their journey with us. We focus on stability and skills-building that support long-term functioning – especially for youth preparing to age out of the foster care system."
– Gerald Hanson, Chief Clinical Officer
New Experiences Build Confidence
At TAFS Summer Camp in Hempstead, youth try new things, challenge themselves, and build confidence through sports, creative activities, outdoor experiences, and group connection — practicing teamwork, responsibility, and trust in a setting that feels nothing like treatment.
We welcome foster care youth for 8–10 weeks each summer and two Saturdays a month in the spring and fall. Every attendee receives meals, snacks, and beverages — nourishment that supports regulation, energy, and engagement.
Therapists are present throughout. Donors make it all possible.
The Funding Reality
TAFS Foster Care is funded through a combination of Medicaid reimbursement and philanthropic investment. Medicaid covers eligible clinical therapy — but not the engagement infrastructure that makes participation possible.
Donor support funds recovery support specialists, peer engagement programming, life-skills development, camps, and trauma-informed staff training. Without it, clinical care has nothing to take root in.
Responsible Stewardship of Teen Potential
Investment in the TAFS Access & Stability Fund creates immediate and measurable impact — expanding behavioral health access, strengthening residential environments, and reducing long-term system costs for Texas families.
When stability increases, risk decreases. When accountability grows, independence strengthens. When consistent adults show up, identity begins to shift.
This work forms character. It is responsible stewardship of human potential.
Contact Us
If you are a foundation, corporate leader, or individual investor committed to expanding high-quality adolescent behavioral health care in Houston, we welcome direct engagement.