Program Goals

The goals of FPC-IHS Blended In-Person and Online Pre-Service Training for Resource Parents are:

• Learn to assess whether they have the willingness, ability, and resources to parent children in care
• Learn how to create a positive family environment
• Improve parenting attitudes and skills for the safety of children in care
• Understand how complex trauma, abuse, and neglect affect children’s behavior
• Learn how to build a relationship with the child in their care
• Learn how to improve the child’s self-worth, attachment, and health
• Learn how to use strength-based language

Logic Model

View the Logic Model for FPC-IHS Blended In-Person and Online Pre-Service Training for Resource Parents.

Essential Components

The essential components of FPC-IHS Blended In-Person and Online Pre-Service Training for Resource Parents include:

• In-person group meetings for resource parents:
• Prepare potential resource parents to be involved in a treatment foster care program as team members.
• Less in-person meeting time is required with the Blended Curriculum than traditional resource parent training programs because core material is covered by the online courses.
• The curriculum was originally designed for classroom meetings with up to 25 participants; today, with internet programs like Zoom and Teams for distance meetings, it may be used with individual families or larger groups.
• Support for potential parents who have difficulty meeting training requirements due to work schedules.
• The flexible classroom curriculum allows states and agencies to present current local requirements.
• Trainees have a chance to ask questions, receive agency-specific information, and interact with agency staff and other prospective caregivers.
• Agency staff have an opportunity to assess prospective caregivers, while trainees can assess the agency program and their own willingness and ability to assume the role of a resource parent.
• The FPC-IHS curriculum:
• Provided at no cost
• Includes a 198-page written curriculum manual with:
• The flexibility to be easily customized to meet an agency’s particular needs, such as by adding state- and/or agency-specific information
• Trainer instructions
• Content divided into four 3-hour in-person training sessions which includes:
• Group activities
• Discussion points
• Printable handouts
• Syllabi and review questionnaires for the ten online courses
• An evaluation form
• Editable PowerPoint presentations
• Online courses:
• The FPC online courses of the Blended Curriculum are viewed through the internet by prospective resource parents at times and places convenient for them.
• FPC pre-service courses, which deliver core resource parent training information, are self-paced, interactive, and engaging, using the audiovisual, multimedia learning format used in FosterParentCollege.com courses.
• FPC courses provide fidelity throughout the parent’s training and are periodically updated or replaced.
• Provide potential parents with the opportunity to assess whether they can bring a child, who most likely has been trauma impacted, into their family and provide the child with support.
• Help potential parents understand the need for the child to connect with the child’s birth family and the many ways this can be accomplished.
• The courses provide recaps of key information, including a viewer guide and a review questionnaire with interactive responses.
• All courses include supplementary printable handouts that are periodically reviewed and updated as needed.
• Viewers of the online courses have access to a personal notebook and have the ability to paste or write directly from the training to the notebook.
• Each online course provides a certificate of completion that parents can present to their agency for training credit.
• Curriculum Guide (Implementation Manual) for in-person meetings:
• FPC provides a printable, flexible curriculum guide designed for customizing by agency staff to include state- and agency-specific requirements.

Program Delivery

Parent/Caregiver Services

FPC-IHS Blended In-Person and Online Pre-Service Training for Resource Parents directly provides services to parents/caregivers and addresses the following:

• New or potential resource parent of children who have been abused, neglected, or otherwise traumatized and may have disruptive behavior problems and/or emotional disorders related to being separated from their birth family members and placed in care
• Potential resource parent who may be unaware of the skills, ability, and resources needed to have such a child join the family
• Potential resource parent who may not recognize that the child coming into care will need extra support
• Potential resource parent who may not understand how the child welfare system works
• Potential resource parent who may not understand that the child likely needs to have positive interactions/relationships with siblings and other birth family members
• Potential resource parent who may not understand trauma and how retraumatizing the child in their care can happen

Recommended Intensity:

The self-paced, online courses are delivered in clusters of three or four courses to be viewed on demand between the in-person classroom meetings. Delivery of the in-person curriculum is flexible and can be tailored to the needs of both agencies and prospective caregivers. Each in-person classroom meeting runs about 3 hours and will occur every week or every other week. Each cluster of online courses provides both training content and interactive exercises, viewed at home or other convenient location, and will take a trainee approximately 3 to 4.5 hours to complete.

Recommended Duration:

Typically 4-8 weeks

Delivery Settings

This program is typically conducted in a(n):

• Adoptive Home
• Foster / Kinship Care
• Community-based Agency / Organization / Provider
• Public Child Welfare Agency (Dept. of Social Services, etc.)
• Virtual (Online, Telephone, Video, Zoom, etc.)

Homework

FPC-IHS Blended In-Person and Online Pre-Service Training for Resource Parents includes a homework component:

Participants in the FPC-IHS Blended In-Person and Online Pre-Service Training for Resource Parents are expected to complete the online interactive exercises and read the printable handouts that are part of the curriculum's online courses. In addition, the in-person sessions involve homework activities that participants are required to complete and handouts they are expected to read.

Languages

FPC-IHS Blended In-Person and Online Pre-Service Training for Resource Parents has materials available in a language other than English:

Spanish

For information on which materials are available in this language, please check on the program's website or contact the program representative (contact information is listed at the bottom of this page).

Resources Needed to Run Program

The typical resources for implementing the program are:

• For the classroom, agencies need:
• A room large enough to accommodate the group of prospective resource parents (typically anywhere from 6-36)
• A laptop, projector, and screen for the PowerPoint presentations
• A flip chart and markers
• Props as described in the curriculum guide
• An experienced social worker from the licensing agency to present information related to agency rules, policies, and procedures, as well as to review the online courses with trainees
• Ideally, an experienced resource parent to co-train the meetings with the social worker and share experiences and insights from years of providing for children in care.
• For classroom distance learning:
• A virtual meeting platform like Zoom that allows users to connect with video, audio, phone, and chat.
• For the online courses, individual trainees need:
• Access to a computer or mobile device with a compatible browser, a high-speed internet connection, audio capabilities, and the ability to download or print handouts.

Manuals and Training

Prerequisite/Minimum Provider Qualifications

The agency trainer for the in-person classes should be of a senior grade and have presentation skills; have training and/or experience in social work or counseling with foster, adoptive, and kinship families; and be familiar with state- and agency-specific requirements for resource parents. Group instructional skills are desirable.

Manual Information

There is a manual that describes how to deliver this program.

Program Manual(s)

Manual Details:

• Northwest Media, Inc. & Institute for Human Services. (2014). Blended pre-service curriculum for online and classroom training. Author.

The Blended Curriculum manual is available at no cost and can be sent via email by contacting fpc@northwestmedia.com.

Training Information

There is training available for this program.

Training Contact:

• Customer Support
  www.fosterparentcollege.com
  fpc@northwestmedia.com
  phone: (541) 343-6636

Training Type/Location:

Although only the manual is available for the in-person class curriculum, training on how to set up and use the online part of the program is available on the website. Training is available through webinars or individualized online support on how to utilize the platform.

Number of days/hours:

The webinar trainings are 1 hour in length. Since the use of the learning management system is individualized and ongoing, customer support services provide additional training as needed.

Implementation Information

Pre-Implementation Materials

There are no pre-implementation materials to measure organizational or provider readiness for FPC-IHS Blended In-Person and Online Pre-Service Training for Resource Parents.

Formal Support for Implementation

There is formal support available for implementation of FPC-IHS Blended In-Person and Online Pre-Service Training for Resource Parents as listed below:

Implementation support includes designing the agency’s account structure and learning management system to support the future reporting needs of the agency. This also includes assisting with or overseeing implementation or providing technical assistance on implementation issues or formal coaching or consultation, if desired.

During and after implementation, FPC staff will provide training and technical assistance related to the online learning management system, as well as individualized customer service by phone, email, or webinar as needed.

Fidelity Measures

There are no fidelity measures for FPC-IHS Blended In-Person and Online Pre-Service Training for Resource Parents.

Implementation Guides or Manuals

There are implementation guides or manuals for FPC-IHS Blended In-Person and Online Pre-Service Training for Resource Parents as listed below:

The curriculum guide or manual contains activities, discussion points, handouts, syllabi and questionnaire answer sheets for the online courses, evaluation forms, and more. PowerPoint facilitator guides are also available. The manual can be obtained from the Training Contact above.

FPC also provides direct implementation support to states, counties, and agencies with customized guides, staff support material at no cost.

Implementation Cost

There are no studies of the costs of FPC-IHS Blended In-Person and Online Pre-Service Training for Resource Parents.

Research on How to Implement the Program

Research has not been conducted on how to implement FPC-IHS Blended In-Person and Online Pre-Service Training for Resource Parents.

Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research

Child Welfare Outcome: Child/Family Well-Being

Additional References