Are you considering PRTF placement for your child? Do you want more information about PRTF services? Read on for information and personal experience to help you navigate through PRTF as a potential option.
What is a PRTF?
PRTF is an acronym that stands for Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility. It is inpatient hospital treatment that Medicaid funds.
Currently, one of my children is receiving care at a PRTF center in our state. We exhausted all outpatient services available in our area before Medicaid approved this residential program placement.
I am sharing our experience to help other parents determine if this treatment facility is suitable for their child.
The PRTF program in our area includes intensive behavioral programming, plus psychiatric and therapeutic services on site.
Each PRTF program provides unique services based on age and therapeutic models.
What is a PRTF in CMS? PRTF is funded and managed by the government Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS).
How Do I Know if My Child Needs a PRTF?
Determining the medical necessity of PRTF, residential, or inpatient treatment is a personal journey with specific insurance criteria.
Many experts believe that the best place for children to receive treatment is in their own home, where they can be provided with the necessary support and care to keep them safe. However, this is not currently possible in our child’s case.
For many years, we have been trying to keep our child safe from himself and ensure the safety of his siblings at home. We have tried various resources available in our community, such as play therapy, attachment therapy, occupational therapy, family therapy, case management, attendant care services, and respite.
We have tried all the available treatment options for our children who have Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD). Still, unfortunately, we have been unable to ensure our child’s safety without 24/7 line-of-sight supervision.
This means that one of our children must be in the same room, within the sight of an adult, all day and night. We had expected to provide this level of supervision only during the toddler years. Still, we have had to maintain the same level of supervision to intervene with unsafe behaviors for over six years.
This level of constant supervision doesn’t prevent our child from becoming violent, but it allows us to intervene and get the other children in the home to safety before they get hurt.
How Do I Find a PRTF Near Me?
As our child’s behaviors escalated, we utilized our local mental health service provider for assistance. As an adopted child from foster care, our child was provided a medical card. This state-issued Medicaid has allowed us to utilize services.
Our local mental health center worked with us to provide a team of professionals who are assigned to children at risk for hospitalization or out-of-home placement.
Our treatment team worked with our family for years, and they provided a referral for PRTF treatment centers across our state.
After being approved by our state Medicaid provider, I contacted and interviewed each PRTF program to get information about treatment models and facilities.
How We Got Our Son Into a PRTF: Our Family’s Story
Our journey to placing our child in PRTF has been both heartbreaking and encouraging. After years of service in the community, we were seeing an escalation in violent behaviors.
Our other children were scared and exhausted from the constant crisis caused by our child’s rages.
Admitting my child might thrive in a treatment facility was tough. I wanted to believe my love alone could heal.
However, my child has severe attachment trauma, which means my nurturing often leads to dysregulation. My child seeks to gain control over adults, as it is the only way to feel safe.
PRTF allows us to begin healing our relationship in a safe, predictable setting, free from threatening attachments.
This has allowed us to work with our other children to get needed treatment while also supporting our child in PRTF from the sidelines.
We hope our child can return home after successfully completing PRTF.
In our journey, PRTF isn’t the final stop, but a step on the path to healing. We hope it offers our child vital support.
As parents, admitting you cannot meet your child’s needs at home is tough, and we’ve faced criticism. Yet, we know this residential treatment offers a chance for long-term healing for our whole family.
Have you considered a PRTF placement for your child? Share about it in the comments below.
Click here for a free PDF printable checklist of the 7 steps to take when your child needs residential treatment.
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Types of Residential Treatment for Children {with Infographic}
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