Become a Mentor

Medically Complex Foster Care

little boy with disabilities

At Alabama MENTOR, we believe that children belong in homes not hospitals. We take pride in our ability to provide community-based foster care for some of our state’s most vulnerable children. In our Medically Complex Foster Care program we offer 24-hour personalized care for children and adolescents with a wide range of medical conditions which may include:

Our goal is to combine ongoing medical treatment with the nurturing support of our caring foster parents to help children heal and grow in the communities that they call home.

Comprehensive Support

We call our foster parents Mentors because they do more than open their homes to the children in our program; they open their hearts, too. Mentors offer the support and care these children need to develop. We carefully screen our Mentors and ensure they are equipped with the skills necessary to offer the support—medically and emotionally—to the children in their home.

We are with our Mentors every step of the way, acting as a resource and helping them provide individualized treatment and care. We provide on-call assistance to answer questions 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Our clinical coordinators are available to make house calls and offer guidance and help anytime, day or night. With support from our expert team, Mentors provide:

Guidance
Therapeutic intervention
Medication management oversight
Nurturing support
24-hour, home-based monitoring
Access to routine family and community-based activities
Life skills development

Individualized Service and Care

Our expert clinical coordinators work with each child, the referring caseworker, hospital staff, the parents/legal guardian or foster parents to develop a treatment plan that is tailored to meet the child’s specific needs. If the youth is in school, the coordinators may also arrange for service planning meetings to be held at the school in order for teachers to participate. In addition our coordinators consult with a community-based registered nurse to ensure we create a treatment plan that best meets the child’s unique needs.

Through our comprehensive matching process, we ensure that our Mentors are prepared to support each child’s specialized needs and ensure that they are able to successfully transition from hospitals and other care settings. We encourage our Mentors to spend time with the child in the hospital where they can learn about specific medical services or equipment from nurses before bringing the child home. In special cases, we assist our foster parents in making home modifications such as wheelchair ramps or other accessibility features.

Find out more about Alabama MENTOR’s Medically Complex Foster Care program by contacting the office nearest you.