December/January 2019Vol. 19, No. 10Blended In-Person and Online Preservice Training for Resource Parents
The California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare has a training for resource parents that aims to teach them about parenting attitudes and skills to improve child safety and create a positive family environment as well as about how child abuse and neglect affect children's behavior. The training also gives potential resource parents the ability to assess if they are willing and able to assume this role. This blended in-person and online preservice training program for resource parents, created by FosterParentCollege.com (FPC) and the Institute for Human Services, consists of 4 in-person classroom sessions and 10 online training courses that potential resource parents can review at their own pace.
The online courses are grouped into three clusters:
- Cluster One: The Child Welfare Team, Child Abuse and Neglect, Parent-Child Attachment, and Understanding Behavior in Foster Children
- Cluster Two: Child Development, Cultural Issues in Parenting, and Working Together With Primary Families
- Cluster Three: Caring for Children Who Have Been Sexually Abused, Reducing Family Stress, and Foster Care to Adoption
Both the in-class and online curricula are flexible, and states and agencies can modify them to match their local requirements and standards. FPC provides a manual with training instructions and content such as group activities, discussion points, and review questionnaires for the online courses.
More information on the program can be found at http://www.cebc4cw.org/program/fpc-ihs-blended-in-person-and-online-pre-service-training-curriculum-for-resource-parents/detailed.