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Group “A” Workshops, Monday February 3, 2020 11:15 am – 12:30 pm A1 The Blended Training Approach to Pre-Approval Training: Combining In-person Meetings & Online Courses Lee White, President, FosterParentCollege.com Liz Brooks Wilburn, Director of Development, FosterParentCollege.com The California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare recently rated FosterParentCollege.com’s blended pre-approval training as having “promising research evidence.” In a study, prospective resource parents in the FPC blended training group (online courses plus in-person meetings) made significantly greater knowledge gains than those in the classroom-only training group, and they dropped out of the training at a much lower rate. This workshop will explore how agencies can develop a blended pre-approval training that combines the free FPC courses with their current curriculum. There will be a facilitator-led discussion on utilizing FPC to engage potential resource parents during the application process. A2 Santa Clara County Resource Family Recruitment Collaborative – The transition from dysfunctional competition to a spirit of successful collaboration and partnership Maria Powery, Resource Parent Recruiter, Seneca Family of Agencies Temera Carson, Social Work Supervisor, Recruitment of Resource Homes, Santa Clara County Department of Family and Children’s Services Adrianna Taylor, Director of Community Development, Help One Child The Santa Clara County Resource Family Recruitment Collaborative is a joint effort between several Foster Family Agencies, the County recruitment team and key partner Help One Child. The mission is to provide every youth in foster care an opportunity to reach their full potential through collaborative recruitment, education, marketing and communication efforts that increase the number of trauma-informed resource families. You will learn how the Collaborative has: • worked together to create a spirit of trust and collaboration, • leveraged the strengths of each agency/staff in order to plan events and create marketing material, • ensured that no potential Resource Parent is lost due to insufficient information and/or lack of responsiveness, • provided a choice in the agency that best meets their needs. We will provide attendees a copy of joint recruitment document we created as well as sample joint event flyers. A3 Introduction to the WisdomPath Way Reparative Parenting Approach (*WPW RP) Kate Messina, PHD, LCSW, WisdomPath Way Institute Carly Wielstein, AMFT, WisdomPath Way Institute The WPW Reparative Parenting Approach integrates neuroscience with a contemporary perspective of the essential role of the “reparative parent” to help children heal and mature. Come to this workshop and: Learn how to teach the Social Contract of “This is what we do and how we do it;” Be able to recognize a child’s “stuck places” and know how to get a child “unstuck” using the WPW 3-Story Brain model; Learn about amygdala hijacks and the hyper-defensiveness/irritable brain and what to do about it; Learn how to respond rather than react to challenging behaviors; Learn about temperament, “protest styles,” and how to work with them; and Learn how to develop an effective Coaching Plan to help a child heal and mature. A4 Inclusion and Engagement of Resource Families in the Child and Family Team (CFT) Process Robin Palmer, Associate Governmental Program Analyst and Rebecca Buchmiller, Manager California Department of Social Services - Integrated Services Unit Parent Partner Unfortunately, common feedback received from parent groups say that the people spending the most time caring for children in care often feel left out of the decision-making process and do not feel valued as a member of the child’s team. Come learn the role of the resource parent in the CFT and Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) process and how to better engage and support them in this role. Leave with new techniques to build and nurture a partnership between resource and biological families. You will walk away with new tools related to engaging and teaming with resource families. A5 Promoting Healthy Sexual & Reproductive Development for Youth in Care: Tools for Resource Families and Caregiver Trainers Carolyn Ho, John Burton Advocates for Youth Lesli LeGras Morris, Los Angeles Reproductive Health Equity Project Youth Advocate Recent research demonstrates harsh reproductive realities for youth in foster care, who face disproportionately high rates of unintended pregnancy, barriers to sexual health education and services, and too often, coercion regarding reproductive choices. By age 21, approximately 1/3 of foster and former foster youth will be parents, often unintentionally, which impacts their opportunities and outcomes in multiple areas in life. Recent legislation has directed the California child welfare system to play a more intentional role in promoting sexual and reproductive development for youth in foster care. In this workshop, representatives from John Burton Advocates for Youth and Los Angeles Reproductive Health Equity Project for Foster Youth will discuss tools resource families and caregiver trainers can use to support healthy sexual and reproductive development for foster youth, including a curriculum for pre-approval training and factsheets and guidelines to assist trusted adults in initiating sexual health conversations. A6 RFA Background Check Training Repeated in “B” Group Charm Lee, CA Dept of Social Services Come join in a discussion about the general requirements of the RFA background check process, including interpreting CORIs, clarification around clearances vs. exemptions, notification requirements, and exemption processes. Time permitting, the presenter will be available at the end of the discussion for case-specific questions that were not addressed during the training. A7 What is New with Family Finding and Engagement? Angie Schwartz, Vice President, Policy and Advocacy, Alliance for Children’s Rights This workshop will provide an overview of current law and practice around family finding and engagement. Specifically, panelists will discuss best practices to improve family finding, relative engagement and approval of kinship families. While Resource Family Approval ensures that all caregivers are held to the same standards and receive the same training, supports, services and funding, relatives come to our system from a very different vantage point that can make the resource family approval process more challenging. Panelists will discuss best practices for supporting families through the approval process, including a discussion of how to approach conversations around permanence with kinship caregivers. A8 Building RFA Capacity Through Enhancing Cultural Humility Sue Evans, COO, Walden Family Services Mary Frame, Director of Quality Assurance, Walden Family Services Leslie Ellis-Lang, Managing Director of Child and Youth Services, CARF International Assisting kin and non-kin families to be welcoming and supporting to all populations and assisting organizations to recruit, support and retain a diverse group of caregivers is key in expanding capacity. In this workshop we will explore the importance of providing outreach and training to staff and caregivers, utilizing youth voice to build awareness and understanding of ways to be supportive of diverse cultures, including LGBTQ youth and other specialized populations. Various ways this information can be utilized to develop your agencies cultural competency plan for accreditation will be discussed. 47 millis |