What is ETFC?
Enhanced Treatment Foster Care is designed for children and teens who have experienced severe abuse, neglect, abandonment, or chronic instability. These young people don’t just need a safe place to stay; they need structured, therapeutic support to help them recover emotionally and behaviorally. 

What sets ETFC apart from traditional foster care, is its wraparound model: families receive trauma-informed training, have constant support from Bair staff, and work with a full treatment team including therapists, caseworkers and sometimes biological families. It’s intense, yes, but it’s also deeply effective and rewarding. For foster parents like Ellen, who know that kids from hard places need the same thing that all children need – an adult who is willing to care about their stability, love and to give them hope as they grow into adults.

The Professional Foster Parenting Journey

Like many parents, Ellen was unsure at the beginning. She heard the stories about aggressive behaviors and emotional outbursts. But it didn’t scare her, because she knew that fear can be disguised in behaviors, and her compassion for kids was bigger than her hesitations. 

The training – especially the trauma-focused modules Bair taught – equipped her to handle those fears. “We asked a lot of questions,” Ellen recalls. “They answered everything. We watched videos of other foster parents, and the staff never blamed you. They always helped you balance things out.” 

When Ellen welcomed her first placement, she expected instant connection. “You think the child will just fall into place,” she said. “But that’s not how trauma works.” Through therapy, school support and consistent love, her foster daughter began to open up. And eventually, she returned home to a stronger, renewed relationship with her mother. 

Hard Truths

Ellen doesn’t sugarcoat the hard parts, either. Behaviors do emerge. “The honeymoon phase always ends,” she said. “That’s when your training, your support network, and your heart really matter most.” 

Yet for every hard moment, Ellen has a story of breakthrough. One of her foster daughters, now 39 with four kids of her own, still calls her “mom.” The grandchildren call her “grandma.” They exchange holiday gifts. They’re family now – and it all started with one yes. 

“There are children who acted like they didn’t care, didn’t want to talk, but eventually they came to me for help. They listened. They changed. I thought some of them were hopeless. They weren’t!”

Virginia Kids are Waiting – and the Need Has Never Been Greater

Right now, across Virginia, there’s a quiet crisis unfolding. Children and teens are completing their time in treatment facilities and psychiatric hospitals—often making real progress—only to discover there’s nowhere for them to go.

Families simply aren’t saying yes.

The reason can mean many different things: fear of behaviors, lack of training, uncertainty about what’s required. But the result is the same: young people who desperately need a stable, loving home are stuck in limbo, waiting for someone to believe in them.

The Bair Foundation currently has three incredible single, retired women fostering through ETFC – women like Ellen who prove every day that this work is not only possible, but deeply meaningful. But we need three more families to step forward. Just three.

Here’s what many people don’t realize: Because ETFC youth require more intensive support, the state of Virginia provides a significantly higher reimbursement rate for these placements. This isn’t about making money—it’s about recognizing the level of care these children need and ensuring foster parents have the resources to provide it. For retired women on a fixed income, this financial support can make fostering not just emotionally feasible, but practically sustainable.

Why Retired Women Like Ellen Are Exactly Who These Kids Need

Ellen is a single, retired mom. She didn’t have to open her home again after raising her own children. But something stirred in her: a belief that no child is too far gone, and that love – with structure, consistency, and the right support – can reach even the most wounded hearts. 

And she brings something invaluable: time, life experience, and the kind of steady presence that comes from having already navigated the chaos of raising children.

Retired women are uniquely positioned for ETFC:

• You have availability. No competing work schedule means you can attend therapy appointments, school meetings, and be present during the critical after-school hours.
• You have perspective. Decades of life experience help you stay calm when behaviors escalate and see past the testing to the hurt underneath.
• You have space. Empty bedrooms that once held your own children can become safe havens for youth who’ve never had one.
• You have support—financial and professional. Virginia’s enhanced reimbursement rate acknowledges the intensity of this work, and Bair’s full treatment team means you’re never doing this alone.

“People think teens are too difficult,” Ellen says, “But they want love. They want someone to guide them. And if you stick with them, they’ll surprise you.” 

She encourages other retired women – especially those with an empty nest and a full heart – to consider ETFC. “You’d be surprised how strong it makes you. It gives you purpose. And you will see change, even if it takes time.” 

We Need Three Families to Say Yes. 

There are children in Virginia right now, leaving treatment facilities, psychiatric hospitals or group homes, with no family to return to or homes they will need to continue to work on reunification. They need more than just a place to stay, they need someone like Ellen – they need someone like you. Someone who sees beyond the testing, the anger, or even the silence. Someone who knows healing isn’t instant, but believes it is possible. Someone who can share that hope with a vulnerable child. 

If you’re a single woman, retired or semi-retired, with a heart for youth who have survived trauma, ETFC needs you. You don’t have to be perfect – you just have to be present. 

Ready to Make A Difference?

If Ellen can do it, so can you. Say yes to kids who’ve come from difficult places. Say yes to becoming a child’s future. Join an information session with one of our Bair offices in Lynchburg, Richmond or Virginia Beach. 

If you’re a single woman, retired or semi-retired, with a heart for youth who have survived trauma, ETFC needs you. The state of Virginia is ready to support you financially. The Bair Foundation is ready to train and support you every step of the way. 

“It’s rewarding. That’s the word I’d use,” Ellen says. “You think you’re doing it for them, but really, it gives so much back to you.”

Become aN Enhanced treatment Foster Parent in Virginia

The Bair Foundation trains and equips treatment foster families like you. If you are a seasoned parent, have fostered before and understand kids from hard places, there’s a reason you are reading this now.

If your heart has been stirred because you know that you have what it takes to love a child through hard times, take the first step and reach out to one of our offices in Virginia.

We have locations in Lynchburg, Richmond and Virginia Beach. 

There’s a child waiting for you.