Fall 2019 |
Welcome to the Fall Solutions Newsletter!At FosterParentCollege.com, we are very happy with the feedback we have been receiving about our courses from our new evaluation system. At the end of each course, viewers are now provided the opportunity to evaluate it. They are asked to rate the course on how much they disagree or agree with a series of statements, including that the course added to their knowledge about caring for children, that they would recommend the course to others, and that they liked the way the material was presented. During the month of September, we received feedback from 72.7% of our viewers, with average scores for all courses ranging from 4.35 (for material presentation) to 4.44 (for adding to child caring knowledge) on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). |
Understanding Sex Trafficking Now AvailableChildren involved in the child welfare system are at high risk for being lured into sex trafficking. Resource parents play a valuable role in identifying those youth who are vulnerable to trafficking and intervening when they see warning signs. To assist foster, adoptive, and kinship parents in understanding sex trafficking and what it looks like, FosterParentCollege.com has just released the highly anticipated online course, Understanding Sex Trafficking. |
Course Development ProcessWe are always in the process of creating and adding new courses to FosterParentCollege.com. Developing high-quality, interactive training is an involved process. We start with understanding the need, finding a nationally recognized expert on the subject, then scripting the training, and designing the interactives. Once we have a good draft of a script, we send it to at least two other experts in the field. Using feedback from these reviewers, we finalize the script, and it goes into production. While the production team is recording and assembling the course, the handouts are finalized, the review questionnaire is developed, and other details are completed before the course can be launched. This process takes about a year for each course.
"I was considering terminating foster care for my aggressive child for the sake of our other children, even though we dearly love him. Working with him just these few days using skills learned in this workshop has yielded very positive results. I'm looking forward to helping mold him into a more socially mature boy." |
New Workshop Helps Resource Parents Address Children's Problematic Sexual BehaviorsSexual development, like physical or cognitive development, is a natural part of growing up. However, when children in care demonstrate a sexual behavior, especially a problematic sexual behavior, it can be alarming for resource parents. "Without education and support," explains Dr. Jane Silovsky, "it is not unusual for resource parents to request that children with problematic sexual behaviors leave their home. Unfortunately, this places the child at greater risk."
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Mindfulness Audio Exercises:
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New Article About FPC Published by an Independent ResearcherA couple years ago, Foster Parent College was approached by Jordan Montgomery, then a PhD candidate at Florida State University, for permission to use our online course, Culturally Competent Parenting, as part of her dissertation research project. This independent research study was designed to determine whether parents who completed our course were more open to cultural receptivity when compared to a control group who did not see the course. Results of the study showed that parents who viewed our course had significantly higher scores for openness to cultural receptivity after completing the course than before. Results also showed that parents in the study group who viewed the course had significantly higher cultural receptivity scores than parents in the comparison group who did not.
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Upcoming CoursesFoster Parent College is continually creating new courses and updating existing ones. We are currently working on these courses:
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About FosterParentCollege.comSince 2004, FosterParentCollege.com has been providing online, interactive courses designed specifically for foster, adoptive, and kinship families. FPC offers over 65 courses (including 14 in Spanish) taught by nationally recognized experts. Most of our courses are trauma informed, and FPC has been recognized by the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC). Staff at participating agencies have access to our online administrative management system, which lets them register parents as users, assign courses, distribute handouts, and track program progress. At the same time, resource parents have the flexibility to take courses at their own convenience and pace, wherever internet access is available. |
Connect with Us
support@fosterparentcollege.com |
Solutions for Agency Staff is a quarterly newsletter produced by FosterParentCollege.com with the goal of sharing recent updates with our users.
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