3 things to prioritize with foster parents:
Treat them as valuable members of the team
At the end of the day, foster parents just want to be included as part of the team. They want their voices heard, and their relationship and knowledge with the children in their care, acknowledged. By inviting foster parents to the table, we are able to take the first step towards collaboration!
Become familiar with who they really are
Foster parents are as diverse as the children who enter foster care. They are motivated for various reasons, and ultimately have the same goal as social workers; to support the best interest of the child. Foster parents, however, make huge sacrifices, have unique challenges, have demanding scheduling requirements, and constantly navigate grief and loss. Understanding who they are and what they experience, can help social workers better work alongside them.
Increase your knowledge on neurodiversity
Children who enter foster care are unique in that every single one of them has experienced trauma. In addition to their trauma background, many more of them may have additional diagnoses, such as ADHD, Autism, ODD, FASD, RAD, and more. By understanding their neurodiversity, social workers can better understand how to support them, advocate for them, and will better understand why foster parents make many of the parenting decisions they do.
improve stability for children in care
help social workers improve recruitment and retention of foster parents
bring awareness to the grief and loss foster parents experience
LEARN MORE about various diagnoses commonly found amongst children in foster care
increase your understanding of foster parents
From the perspective of both a social worker and foster parent, and information collected from other foster parents, this course will:
These staggering statistics are hardly sustainable and create more attachment disruptions for children in care as social workers are forced to find new homes every time a foster home closes.
50% of FOSTER PARENTS QUIT WITHIN THEIR FIST YEAR!
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Improve your relationship and understanding of foster parents to increase recruitment and retention and decrease instability for children in care.
Foster Parent Collaboration
This course is made up of 13 modules. Most of the modules include 4 lessons, with many modules highlighting a social worker star, or a foster parent feature. In total, there are almost 5 hours of content.
how long is the course?
The child welfare system is made up of many different people, including social workers, biological families, foster families, children, judges, support workers, and more. This course, however, only focuses on foster parents and children in foster care, as one area for improvement.
does this course discuss other members of the child welfare system?
No! This course would also be helpful for anyone working alongside children in care or with foster parents. That might include doctors, teachers, therapists, OT, SLP, child development workers, nurses, and psychologists. Foster parent collaboration is required across all professions.
is this course only for social workers?
This course is suitable for anyone who works alongside children in foster care or with foster parents, in countries across the world. Though legislation and rules can vary significantly from region to region, the majority of the topics covered are geared towards more social and emotional topics, rather than direct legislation guidelines.
is this course only relevant for certain regions/areas?
The course login information will be provided as soon as you complete your purchase, giving you access to all 113 modules immediately.
How soon can i begin the course?
This course is an online, asynchronous course, where participants can move through modules at their own pace. Once you purchase the course, you have unlimited access with no time limits.
what format is the course?
FAQs
There’s a common belief that many social workers have about the child welfare system. They believe that foster parents play a very small role and ultimately are akin to paid employees.
The myths around foster parents can run rampant, including ideas such as foster parents do it for the money…..foster parents try and keep children…..and foster parents are not a member of the team.
All of these myths, however, perpetuate the strained relationships foster parents and social workers experience, driving countless foster parents to leaving the system.
This results in drastically reduced retention rates, recruitment rates, and most importantly, an increase in instability for children in care. When foster homes shut down, foster children must find new homes.
As social workers, we all know the importance of attachment. We all know the importance of trauma-informed care. And we all know that moving homes blows both of those notions right up.
foster parents just want to be heard
$147
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