Training

Training Requirements

State regulations require that applicants for regular foster parenting complete a 27 hour pre-service education course. Applicants for treatment foster care parenting must complete the basic 27 hour course plus an 8 hour pre-service training. Attendance is mandatory.

Goals

  1. To give foster parents the information needed to handle routine matters such as medical and psychological care, clothing needs, education, and visitation with the birth family.
  2. To provide foster parents with the skills needed to handle problems as they arise.
  3. To develop problem-solving and teamwork skills.
  4. To teach foster parents the required ethical and legal standards for compliance.
  5. To assist foster parents in anticipating the negative, critical or suspicious attitudes that foster children often exhibit.
  6. To identify for foster parents those elements of the foster child’s behavior that can be attributed to the experience of being a foster child.
  7. To share with prospective foster parents the experiences of veteran foster parents with particular emphasis on building positive relationships with birth families and social services’ staff.