Program Goals

The goals of Pressley Ridge's Treatment Foster Care (PR-TFC) Pre-Service Curriculum are:

• Increase knowledge, empathy, and insight regarding treatment foster care, child development, trauma-informed care, and effective behavior management techniques
• Improve parenting skills for working with youth with behavioral and emotional issues
• Improve ability and commitment to succeed in their professional role as treatment foster care parents

Logic Model

The program representative did not provide information about a Logic Model for Pressley Ridge's Treatment Foster Care (PR-TFC) Pre-Service Curriculum.

Essential Components

The essential components of Pressley Ridge's Treatment Foster Care (PR-TFC) Pre-Service Curriculum include:

• Lessons for prospective treatment foster parents for children with emotional and behavioral issues about the following areas:
• Roles and responsibilities of a treatment parent
• Safety and supervision of children in foster care
• Appropriate discipline of children
• Normal child developmental stages
• Effects of traumatic experiences on children's development
• Psychiatric diagnoses of children in foster care
• Separation and loss that children in foster care experience
• Effective Parenting competencies:
• Social rewards
• Active listening
• Behavior management techniques
• Motivation systems
• Skill teaching
• Managing conflicts in parent-child relationships
• Managing crisis situations
• Competency-based curriculum:
• Provides 10 units with accompanying objectives to achieve desirable treatment parent competencies:
• Unit 1: Introduction to Treatment Foster Care
• Unit 2: Professional Parenting
• Unit 3: Trauma and Child Development
• Unit 4: Understanding Childhood Mental Health and Diagnosis
• Unit 5: Developing Healthy Relationships
• Unit 6: Therapeutic Communication
• Unit 7: Understanding and Changing Behavior
• Unit 8: Skill Teaching
• Unit 9: Conflict Resolution
• Unit 10: Understanding and Managing Crisis
• Comprehensive curriculum package (available in English and Spanish):
• The Trainer Resource Manual contains everything a trainer needs to deliver the preservice training:
• All training units are fully scripted for easy reference to what a trainer needs to say or do.
• Each unit provides an overview of the core competencies that will be taught and a training agenda for the unit.
• A special section contains both trainer tips and various work tools for organizing and preparing for training and tracking participant progress.
• The Parenting Training Manual captures the core competencies of effective treatment parenting:
• All units contain the essence of course content using summary readings, case examples, job aids, and worksheets to reinforce the transfer of learning into everyday practice
• Digital platform with engaging and interactive content between units
• Trainer Resource Unit with customizable work tools and training tips:
• Professionally designed PowerPoint presentations files and handouts conveniently organized by training units
• Reproducible parenting training manual available in PDF format for easy printing
• Customizable work tools for trainers
• Skill-Building Videos:
• Over 50 video segments that can be incorporated throughout the curriculum to demonstrate the correct or incorrect application of one or more of the therapeutic communication skills taught in the preservice training
• Flexible design and delivery:
• The units are designed to be presented in sequential order, but the modular design allows for trainers to select any combination of units for a more customized series based on agency needs.
• Each unit takes approximately 3 hours to present, which is ideal for evening and/or half-day weekend sessions.
• The curriculum can be delivered in a group or individual setting either at the agency's office or in the treatment parent's home.
• Engaging instructional design:
• The curriculum includes a variety of teaching methods including structured presentations, experiential activities, group discussions, and skill practice exercises.
• The integrated multimedia resources enhance learning and skill transfer through professionally developed PowerPoint slides and video vignettes that demonstrate the skills taught during preservice training.
• The digital platform engages parents in content between units and pretests and posttests are given to help reinforce learning before and after training.
• The Parent Training Manual contains reading material and worksheets.
• Affordable and sustainable Train the Trainer model:
• The certification program is four days of training for trainers. After completion, participants will leave with the full curriculum package and be prepared to deliver the training in their agency.
• The purchase price of the curriculum package includes registration for one person to attend the four-day Trainer Certification Program.

Program Delivery

Parent/Caregiver Services

Pressley Ridge's Treatment Foster Care (PR-TFC) Pre-Service Curriculum directly provides services to parents/caregivers and addresses the following:

• Prospective treatment foster parents for children with emotional and behavioral issues who lack the knowledge and skills to care for their unique needs

Services Involve Family/Support Structures:

This program involves the family or other support systems in the individual's treatment: Alternative caregivers living in the home also receive preservice training so they can support the treatment parents in their roles and responsibilities. Participants are trained on the importance of, and ways to, include biological and extended family members in services. Biological families are provided with training content from program Treatment Coordinators and the treatment parents when possible.

Recommended Intensity:

2.5 - 3 hours for each unit, maximum of 2 units per training session each week

Recommended Duration:

6 - 8 weeks

Delivery Settings

This program is typically conducted in a(n):

• Foster / Kinship Care
• Community-based Agency / Organization / Provider
• Public Child Welfare Agency (Dept. of Social Services, etc.)

Homework

Pressley Ridge's Treatment Foster Care (PR-TFC) Pre-Service Curriculum includes a homework component:

Training participants are given pre-work and homework assignments between training units. The assignments are completed before the next session and reviewed during the session.

Languages

Pressley Ridge's Treatment Foster Care (PR-TFC) Pre-Service Curriculum 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:

• Meeting room that accommodates group size
• Laptop/computer
• PowerPoint and videos
• Training manuals and handouts
• LCD Projector
• Speakers
• Flip chart
• Markers/ writing utensils

Manuals and Training

Prerequisite/Minimum Provider Qualifications

Bachelor's Degree with two or more years of experience as a child welfare professional

Manual Information

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

Program Manual(s)

Manual informtaion:

• Pressley Ridge Institute. (2023). Pressley Ridge's pre-service trainer resource manual. Author.

The manual is only available to those who attend the training.

Training Information

There is training available for this program.

Training Contact:

• Michael S. Kaelin, MA
  www.pressleyridge.org/pr-tfc-pre-service-training
  mkaelin@pressleyridge.org
  phone: (412) 872-9446

Training Type/Location:

Either at Pressley Ridge's Operations Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, other Pressley Ridge locations as needed, or at the external agency's location. Only designated and approved Pressley Ridge staff are used to train the 4-day Trainer Certification course

Number of days/hours:

4-day training: Typically 9 am - 4:30 pm each day (24 hours of direct training)

Implementation Information

Pre-Implementation Materials

There are pre-implementation materials to measure organizational or provider readiness for Pressley Ridge's Treatment Foster Care (PR-TFC) Pre-Service Curriculum as listed below:

Pressley Ridge's Treatment Foster Care Pre-Service Training Fidelity Scale outlining the core components of the training can be used to assess readiness to provide the preservice training. The scale can be obtained from Amy Strickler whose contact information is located at the bottom of the page.

Formal Support for Implementation

There is formal support available for implementation of Pressley Ridge's Treatment Foster Care (PR-TFC) Pre-Service Curriculum as listed below:

Formal support is optional. Pressley Ridge's training department provides implementation support through teleconferencing or e-mail on an as-needed basis up to 6 months for an additional cost. Pressley Ridge's Organizational Performance Department can provide support around fidelity monitoring and program effectiveness evaluation on an as-needed basis through teleconferencing or e-mail up to 6 months for an additional cost.

Fidelity Measures

There are fidelity measures for Pressley Ridge's Treatment Foster Care (PR-TFC) Pre-Service Curriculum as listed below:

Pressley Ridge's Treatment Foster Care Pre-Service Training Fidelity Scale is a self-report checklist that consists of 9 items that measure the core components of the preservice training. Each item is rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with higher scores indicating greater adherence to the fidelity component. Accompanying definitions to guide ratings for each item are provided. Cut-off scores are provided to determine areas for improvement. Scores from fidelity scales are reviewed by program leadership on a quarterly basis for quality improvement opportunities. The scale can be obtained from Amy Strickler whose contact information is located at the bottom of the page.

Implementation Guides or Manuals

There are implementation guides or manuals for Pressley Ridge's Treatment Foster Care (PR-TFC) Pre-Service Curriculum as listed below:

The Trainer Resource Manual provides implementation guides for the program. The manual can be purchased by contacting Michael Kaelin whose contact information is located at the bottom of the page.

Implementation Cost

There are no studies of the costs of Pressley Ridge's Treatment Foster Care (PR-TFC) Pre-Service Curriculum.

Research on How to Implement the Program

Research has not been conducted on how to implement Pressley Ridge's Treatment Foster Care (PR-TFC) Pre-Service Curriculum.

Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research

Child Welfare Outcomes: Permanency and Child/Family Well-Being

Additional References