Also called: Treatment Foster Parent, Specialized Foster Parent
Cares for foster children with intense medical or emotional needs in their own home, with extra training and pay.
A therapeutic foster parent might handle a teen's therapy appointments, keep a daily behavior log, attend school meetings, and stay calm through a 2 a.m. crisis.
Estimate; paid as a stipend per child, often tax-free. A few states offer salaried professional foster parent roles.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
High school diploma, about 0 years after high school. Licensing, background checks, and 30+ hours of training; no degree required.
Ways in: Certification, On-the-job training. Training cost: Under $15k.
Growing faster than average. Every state needs more trained foster homes.
Low risk for 10 years. Caring for a child with intense needs in your home, including 2 a.m. crises, is entirely human work.
Classes: Child development CTE class, Psychology, Health.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.