Helping Resource Parents Maintain a Healthy Marriage to Preserve Foster/Adoptive Placements
Foster, kinship, and adoptive parents face extraordinary challenges which can have an impact on their marriage. Adjusting to these challenges is critical to maintaining a healthy marriage, protecting the family, and preserving the foster or adoptive placement.
It's My Marriage is a marital education program designed to help resource parents improve communication with each other, resolve conflicts in their relationship, build trust, and promote intimacy. Seven years in the making, including studying outcomes with foster parents, It's My Marriage is now available on the FosterParentCollege.com website. This course holds parents' interest with its blend of person-on-the-street interviews, narrative instruction, and scenarios which model each of the skills.
What foster parents said about It's My Marriage during our research study:
"A fantastic resource for foster parents. It is so easy to get wrapped up in the kids that we forget to take care of our relationship."
"This workshop should be required for all foster parents before children enter their home."
The creation of It's My Marriage was possible through a Small Business Innovation Research Grant (#R44 MD005197-04) from the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities to Northwest Media, Inc.
Sleep Problems (2nd Edition)
When a child has a sleep problem, a parent has a sleep problem too. In this course, updated and released in 2016, Dr. Richard Delaney examines four types of sleep problems in children: fears about sleeping alone, frequent waking and roaming, nightmares and night terrors, and sleep problems and depression. He gives parents insights into the possible reasons for their child's sleep problems and offers suggestions parents can take immediately so everyone in the home can get some much needed sleep.
Coming This Summer! Pre-Service Courses in Spanish
Since last fall, we have been working to have all of our pre-service courses dubbed into Spanish. Our translator has been working hand-in-hand with foster care and trauma experts to ensure correct vocabulary and comparable content. This has been a huge project! The good news is that all eleven pre-service courses will be available in Spanish by late summer.
Connecting Pre-Service Parents with Instructors
We have just added a link on all of our pre-service clusters which will allow potential foster parents to send comments or questions directly to their instructor. With this new "Ask Your Instructor" feature, FPC administrators can either reply to the parents' email or address the questions during the next in-person meeting. If you have questions about this feature please contact Laurie at Laurie@northwestmedia.com or 800-777-6636.
Welcome New Agencies
We extend a warm welcome to these new agencies which have recently joined FosterParentCollege.com.
State of Virginia
State of Wyoming
Extraordinary Families in California
State of Minnesota (Pilot Program)
Mid-North Camelot TFC in Tennessee
Treatment Homes, Inc. in Arkansas
Great Hope Foundation for Children in California
New on Vstreet.com
Surviving Independence
Preparing Youth for the Transition to Independent Living
We are proud to announce that Surviving Independence, a 3D animated game, will soon be released by our sister organization, Vstreet.com. The focus for Vstreet.com is to help youth develop independent living skills. Surviving Independence is a new tool designed to motivate and prepare youth for the transition to independent living. It provides a rich, visual, hands-on experience that accommodates a range of literacy levels, mild disabilities, and learning styles.
Surviving Independence was made possible through a Small Business Innovation Research Grant (#R44HD049173) from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to Northwest Media, Inc.