The Wyoming Department of Family Services is responsible for the licensing of substitute care facilities. Substitute care is any person who operates a business to keep or care for any minor at the request of the parents, legal guardians or an agency which is responsible for the child. They are required to provide; room, board and counseling to children on a 24-hour a day basis away from the child’s own home environment.
The following programs fall under the umbrella of Substitute Care:
- Adoption Agencies; private non-profit agencies that provide pre-services or plan for adoptive home placements for children; services to parents who are considering relinquishment of their child; study and screening process for adoptive home applicants; post-placement supervision of adoptive home placements to adoptive families and post placement services to biological families.
- Child Placing Agency; contracts with private family homes to provide foster care services. They recruit foster families; provide training for the families; and supervise the placement.
- Therapeutic Foster Homes; family based intensive treatment as an alternative to residential, hospital, or institutional care that would otherwise be necessary for a severely emotionally disturbed child or adolescent. The Child Placing Agency for Therapeutic Foster Care are located in the County Mental Health Centers. The Child Placing Agency is responsible for: recruitment of foster parents; training of foster parents; and on-going consultation to the Therapeutic Foster parents.
- Crisis Centers
- Group Homes; home like group setting for children with emotional, social, physical, and/or behavioral needs, who do not require a more restrictive facility for their own protection or that of others.
- Maternity Homes ; group setting pregnant females that provides substitute care, emotional support, counseling and education during the pregnancy and assists the mother in planning for the birth of the child and subsequent aftercare.
- Residential Treatment Centers (RTC) programs; service for children who require a combination of therapeutic, educational, and treatment services in a residential group care setting.
- Detention Centers; facility to provide temporary care to children in secure care, pending court disposition or execution of a court order for placement or commitment.