St. Charles makes sure those homes exist, and that those families are never alone.
We don’t place children.
We match them.
The youth with the greatest needs have often endured the greatest hardships. Finding the right foster family for them is one of the most complex challenges in Wisconsin’s child welfare system. St. Charles Treatment Foster Care program is built for that challenge.
We match each child with care and intention, equipping families with specialized training, clinical resources, and everything they need to ensure that every child has the support they need to belong, grow, and succeed
What makes St. Charles different
The
Match
Every referral is a careful, clinical, relational exercise. We don’t rush placements. We don’t fill beds. A good match means a longer placement, a more stable home, and a child who gets to stay.
The Whole Family
A foster child doesn’t join a parent — they join a family. Our trainings, support groups, and events are for biological children and extended family too. When the whole family is supported, the child thrives.
Always
There
We are always available, always by your side, and always within reach. Our treatment foster care team answers whenever families need us — not just during business hours.
“This is hard, it is worth it, and you will not do it alone.”
FOR PROSPECTIVE FAMILIES
You're not the first person to wonder if they have what it takes.
This is hard. And it is worth it. Every question you’re carrying — another family brought it to us first. We sit with those questions.
You don’t have to figure it out alone. From your first conversation forward, a St. Charles team member is on the other end of the phone, ready for whatever comes next.
You’ll foster as part of a community. Not a caseload. Not a file number. A community of staff, clinicians, Foster Parent Champions, and families who’ve been exactly where you are.
FOSTER PARENT CHAMPIONS
The most credible voice in foster care isn’t ours. It’s yours.
Our Foster Parent Champions are licensed St. Charles families who have walked this path. They answer the questions no agency staff member can answer — because they’ve lived them.
“We decided to take a little step toward helping these children because we wanted to be that stable, influential presence in their lives. If your heart is in it, just jump into it, because watching them grow and succeed makes every single step worth it.”
– Shemeka, Fostering with St. Charles for 10 years
HOW IT WORKS
Here’s what saying yes actually looks like.
-
Reach out
Talk to a St. Charles team member. Ask the hard questions. Learn what fostering at treatment level actually looks like — honestly and without pressure. -
License
Complete training and licensing with a team that stays with you through every step. You won't be handed a packet and left alone. -
Match
Be paired with a child based on your family's strengths, capacity, and readiness — not on availability alone. The right match is where stability starts. -
Belong
Become part of the St. Charles family: 24/7 support, whole-family programming, and Foster Parent Champions who've been exactly where you are.
Questions We Hear
Treatment foster care, Levels 3–4, is designed for youth with the most significant behavioral and therapeutic needs — young people who require a structured, intentional home environment and a family trained to provide it. St. Charles treatment foster families are trained, matched, and supported at a depth that general foster care doesn’t require.
Consistency. Presence. The willingness to show up the same way every day for a child who may not make that easy at first. Treatment foster parents collaborate with St. Charles clinicians, case managers, and the child’s biological family — attending meetings, tracking progress, and serving as an active voice in the child’s care. Most of all, you provide the kitchen table, the bedtime routine, the stable ground a child can finally count on.
No. Many of our most dedicated families came to us with no formal fostering background — but with experience that matters: teaching, coaching, clinical work, faith community leadership, or a deep conviction that they had something to give. Our training and ongoing support builds the rest.
St. Charles serves youth from birth through age 20.
Approximately four months, depending on your pace of completing the 36 required training hours and submitting necessary documents — home study, insurance, background checks, and more. Training is available virtually and in person. A Licensing Specialist walks with you through every step, from first conversation to licensed and matched.
There are no fees to become licensed. St. Charles treatment foster parents receive a monthly stipend for each child in their care, and all foster youth are covered by Medicaid. You are not responsible for a child’s medical or dental expenses, other than over-the-counter medicines and supplies.
When a foster parent calls, a St. Charles team member answers. Not as a hotline, but as people who know you and the child in your care. From the moment you’re licensed through every season of care, St. Charles staff — licensors, Social Workers clinicians, program managers, and leadership — are reachable.
All of it. Our trainings, events, support groups, and family programming are for your biological children and extended family too — not just the licensed foster parent. When a child joins your home, they join your whole family. We build everything around that.
We don’t match on availability. We match on fit — a careful, clinical, relational process of reading a child’s history and understanding your family’s strengths. A good match means a longer, more stable placement for the child. That’s what everything we do is for.
The conversation doesn’t have to be a commitment.
Start with your questions. Meet a Foster Parent Champion. We’ll give you the full picture — what this asks of a family and everything St. Charles brings to make sure you’re never doing it alone.
Phone: (414) 539-4919
About St. Charles Treatment Foster Care
When a child’s needs outrun what most foster families can carry alone, they come to us. St. Charles Treatment Foster Care is a licensed Wisconsin Child Placing Agency serving youth with the most complex behavioral and therapeutic needs across the Milwaukee region. For decades, we’ve built our reputation on one commitment: we don’t place children, we match them. Our licensors, Social Workers clinicians, program managers, and Foster Parent Champions make sure that commitment holds — every placement, every family, every call.