Caithkin Treatment Foster Homes became a fully licensed residential treatment resource of the Ministry of Child and Youth Services in 2001.  From it’s humble beginning with four dedicated homes providing a “safe haven” for eight children we have grown to more than thirty homes and over our nine year history have welcomed over 400 children into our family.  Some have stayed for a very short period of time while their natural family addressed those issues of protection that the referring Children’s Aid Society raised while others have made their foster home placement their permanent home. 

While in our program each child receives individual service unique to their own needs.  We initially work with staff and professionals to establish a treatment plan for the child in order that we can provide the resources the child will require.  Whether the plan is for a child to be reunified with natural family, remain in a placement long term, or move on to an adoptive home, Caithkin will always place the interests of this child first.

With its headquarters in Wasaga Beach in Simcoe County, Caithkin serves the Simcoe and York Regions and surroundings areas. We have homes in the Georgian Triangle (Barrie, Collingwood, Wasaga Beach) Scarborough, Whitby, Beamsville, Campbellford and Brampton.

Caithkin is a "treatment" program, offering a unique philosophy and methodology. Caithkin maintains that foster families are families, too! Once a foster family has been expanded to include one of our children then each child in that home becomes a member of the family. Caithkin’s approach to treatment is rooted in this fundamental belief. Caithkin also believes that a child's well being is an integral part of a family's well being. Consequently, focussing on the well-being of the family will enhance the well-being of the child.

Although, in some respects, Caithkin’s foster families are uniquely structured, they are organized in a non-dysfunctional fashion. They are geared to provide structure and stability while offering the flexibility required to meet the challenges of change.

At Caithkin, the foster families are given unique attention. There is a clinical worker assigned to each family who will support the foster parents. As the primary caregivers, foster parents have a unique insight because of their day-to-day interaction with the child. Placing agency workers are encouraged to maintain an arm's-length relationship with the child. In this way, the family will provide the primary structure, thereby promoting healthy development and positive results stressing normalcy and belonging.

At Caithkin, special needs children occupy a position within the Caithkin foster-family that may be unique to their experience - the knowledge of where they “fit” within the family.

Caithkin provides ongoing, regular, thorough support to Treatment Parents through 24/7 emergency on-call service,  bi-weekly in-service sessions, and access to a clinical psychologist, scheduled in-house supervision and support, frequent telephone contact with their foster family support worker or the clinical director and special Caithkin community functions (i.e. Christmas party, Summer Barbeque, etc.). Sharing experiences with others who are dealing with similar challenges, we believe, promotes growth and enhances the well-being of each Treatment Parents' family and as a result, the well-being of each child.

Treatment Parents not only have to develop expertise in the care and treatment of children with special needs, they must also provide for their own well-being and the well-being of their family. The challenge is to help Treatment Parents' families develop therapeutically in ways that are consistent with their own roles, values and norms. Sensitivity and knowledge of the Treatment Parents' family and its development through time is essential to the success of this endeavour. Caithkin strives to develop, practise, and deliver policies that support the integral structures of the Treatment Parents' family.