How Therapeutic Child Care came to be

In 1977 Patrick Gogerty started a model Therapeutic Child Care Program to determine whether a child care center was the appropriate place to provide care and treatment for abused/neglected children. Read the full story.

Creative therapy heals little artists

“Children often don’t know what’s bothering them. Creativity releases and relaxes them and gives them ‘a voice.’ That’s when the healing starts.” Read more about creative therapy at Childhaven.

 

Daily Therapeutic Child Care

Childhaven treats over 400 infants and preschool children each year who are referred by Children's Administration (Child Protective and Child Welfare Services), Public Health and Economic Services Administration.

 

Therapeutic child care is provided daily to abused, neglected and at-risk children ages one month through five at three King County branches located in Seattle, Auburn and Burien. Predictable, nurturing and developmentally-appropriate experiences are provided, including:

  • Individually-focused care
  • Daily door-to-door van transportation
  • Low child/teacher ratios: 3:1 for children up to two years of age and 5:1 for children two to five years old
  • Medical supervision by staff nurses, plus health screenings and individual health plans for each child
  • Daily monitoring of the home
  • Monthly home visitation
  • Two balanced meals plus snack, meeting all daily nutrition needs
  • Developmental screening for speech, gross and fine motor skills as well as social-emotional status
  • Therapy through creative expression in play, music and art
  • Drug-Affected Infant Program: Therapeutic and developmental child care is provided for infants and preschoolers to overcome residual effects of parents’ prior substance abuse either in-utero or environmentally. Learn more.
  • Parenting programs: In-class Applied Parenting Instruction, Parent-Child Interaction Training (PCIT), and Promoting First Relationships 
  • Highly trained staff: Program directors and case managers are Licensed Mental Health Counselors or Licensed Social Workers. Therapeutic Child Care Workers (our teachers) have degrees in Early Childhood Education (BA/BS or AA), plus years of experience.

For more information about our program, please e-mail Vicki Nino Osby, Senior VP, Program Operations, or call 206.624.6477.