February 2003Vol. 4, No. 1News from the Child Welfare Training Resources Online Network: New Training Curricula Target Foster

Two new training packages from the Child Welfare Institute (CWI) are designed to help foster parents work more effectively with agencies to accomplish critical outcomes. Partnering for Safety and Permanence and Shared Parenting both focus on knowledge and skills needed by foster parents to help agencies address Child and Family Services Reviews outcomes related to safety, well-being, and timely permanence for children and youth who have been abused or neglected.

Developed in consultation with the National Foster Parent Association Board of Directors, and built upon CWI's experience with Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting (MAPP) programs, these training packages utilize realistic case examples to help new foster parents develop specific strategies, techniques, and plans to meet the challenges of foster parenting today.

Partnering for Safety and Permanence (PS) is designed to be used for foster parent selection and preparation. It focuses on building foster parents' abilities to meet the developmental, well-being, and safety needs of children and youth; to share parenting with a child's family; to support concurrent planning; and to meet their own family's needs in ways that ensure a child's safety and well-being. PS includes family and individual assessment and development tools to be used during nine meetings that comprise the 8-day training program. The package consists of a Leader's Guide, Participant Handbook, five companion videos, and an optional PowerPoint presentation. A Trainer's Guide is also available.

The Shared Parenting In-service Training Series is designed for use with PS or other foster parent/adoptive parent preparation programs. Its objective is to help foster parents create positive alignments and healthy boundaries with the parents of children in their care. Consisting of 19 modules or units which can be purchased individually or as a group, the Series addresses work with specific populations, such as adolescents or children whose parents are mentally ill, as well as techniques around critical issues, such as control issues in shared parenting or helping children manage anger or fear. Each module includes a Leader's Guide; diskettes containing the curriculum, handouts, and overheads; and the rights to modify or adapt all material to fit your agency's procedures and policies.

For more information about these training programs, visit the CWI site at http://www.gocwi.org/view_714733.html#practice or contact:

Child Welfare Institute
Thomas Morton (770) 935-8484, ext. 205 or tomorton@gocwi.org
Cathy Welsh (770) 935-8484, ext. 203 or cwelsh@gocwi.org

For information on other training programs, visit the Child Welfare Training Resources (CWTR) Online Network at http://nccanch.acf.hhs.gov/profess/workforce/index.cfm.