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FosterParentCollege.com Online Training for Caregivers, Parents, and Agency Staff

Courses
Course Development

All FPC courses are built following a stringent development process, guided by nationally recognized content experts in the fields of social work, pediatrics, psychology, and education. Once finalized, the script for a new course is assembled consistent with our proven-effective, self-paced learning approach, using video, interactive exercises, handouts, and discussion boards.

Enroll in any of our online courses or view their descriptions, syllabuses, and previews from our course carousel or search feature.
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Accessibility at FPC

System Requirements

Meet the FPC Faculty

Course Resources & Information

Course Costs & Credit Hours
For Parents
Welcome Parents!

Raising a child who has experienced trauma requires a unique set of skills. Our online courses can help you:
- Understand children’s challenging behaviors
- Discover practical parenting strategies
- Learn about welcoming a child into your family
- Meet your training requirements
With Foster Parent College, parents can access courses at their own convenience, 24/7, and move through them at their own pace.

Learn More
Links for Parents
Find Your Agency

FPC’s Affiliate Map can be used to find agencies that accept FPC online training.

Visit the Map
For Agency Staff
Welcome Agency Staff

Foster Parent College provides research-based online parent training. Our goal is to increase children’s safety and reduce unplanned disruptions while in care. FPC courses help strengthen the agency staff’s efforts to support and retain skilled parents.

Our self-paced courses are available 24/7 and provide parents with convenient access to practical parenting strategies and information on specific behavior problems. FPC’s flexible online management system allows agency staff to register parents, assign training, and access completion certificates.

Learn More
Links for Agency Staff
Blended Pre-Service Training Options
Get On the Map!

FPC’s Affiliate Map helps parents find agencies that accept FPC online training. It is free to list your agency on the map.

Visit the Map

Press Releases

Child Safety and Supervision Explored in Latest FosterParentCollege.com® Class

November 11, 2009

Eugene, OR — Foster children present challenging safety issues in and out of the home. A child's past experiences and current behaviors often present surprises to the foster family. FosterParentCollege.com's Child Safety and Supervision helps viewers understand these challenges and offers strategies and tools to help keep foster children and foster families safe.

In this course, Michael F. Quinn, safety expert, social worker, and foster family agency supervisor, offers insight into daily challenges faced by foster caregivers. His sound, practical advice gives parents the tools they need to develop and implement safety plans for the home and off-site environments.

This course focuses on practical solutions that parents can apply in and out of the home. Topics covered are:

collection of pre-placement information
preparing the home for the foster child
developing house rules
making in-home observations and safety adjustments
developing off-site safety plans
reporting unusual incidences and
working with a childcare team

Mr. Quinn has been a social worker and foster family agency supervisor for 25 years in residential foster care and group home settings. He received his master's degree in psychology from California State University in Sacramento. Mr. Quinn has authored books for foster parents and residential and private agency caseworkers and is a contributor to the SocialLearning.com online catalog. He is currently a Supervising Social Worker for Nepenthean Homes FFA in Fair Oaks, California.

Completing the class yields two training hours and costs $10. For more information about this class or to watch a short preview, visit www.fosterparentcollege.com or call 800-777-6636.

FPC is rated by the California Evidence-based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare, endorsed by the Foster Family-based Treatment Association and the Canadian Foster Family Association, and approved by CASA and the National Adoption Center.

FosterParentCollege.com is a division of Northwest Media, Inc. of Eugene, Oregon. Northwest Media also produces SocialLearning.com, an online store with over 1,300 products for the social services field. For more information about this article, contact us at press@northwestmedia.com.

FPC Help & Support

Frequently Asked Questions

Common Trainee Questions

Registration

Do I have to have an email address to participate in FPC?

Yes. Your email address identifies your account. Also, you will receive important information from FPC via email.

What if I don't have an email address?

You can create a free email account from several email service providers. Check with your internet provider, or set up an account at Gmail.com, Yahoo.com, or others.

My spouse and I share an email address. Can we use that one email address for our FPC account?

For self-registered users, each of you needs to have a separate account. You can create a free email account from several email service providers. Check with your internet provider or get an account at Gmail.com, Yahoo.com, or others.

If you are working with an agency, check with your social worker to see if the agency allows shared trainee accounts.

I didn't receive the confirmation email after my registration.

The confirmation email is titled "Welcome to FosterParentCollege.com®." Check your spam or junk email folder. If you still do not receive the confirmation message, send us a comment.

I thought my agency registered me but I haven't gotten anything from them.

You should have received an email entitled "Welcome to FosterParentCollege.com®." It gives you a password, log in instructions, and tells you the number of training units you've been given (if applicable). Check your spam or junk email folder and make sure you can receive emails from FosterParentCollege.com and NorthwestMedia.com. Also, talk with your agency and make sure they have your correct email address.

What's the difference between agency-linked and self-registered members?

Many agencies cover the cost of courses for parents, and register trainees on FPC. These agency-linked members receive a welcome email from FPC with an assigned password and a designated number of training units (if applicable), which they use to enroll in courses. Generally, these members will not have to pay for courses. Self-registered members create their own accounts on FPC and pay for course enrollments using their credit card.

My Account

I signed up with my name but now I want to add my spouse's name to the account. Can that be changed?

For self-registered users, shared accounts are not available. If you have an agency-linked account, then check with your agency to see if shared accounts are permitted. If they are, your agency can set it up for you.

What if my email address changes?

Log in with your old email address, click on the "Account Settings" button, then click on "Edit > Login Email" and follow the prompts to change your email address. You will be sent a confirmation email to the new address. You will need to follow the instructions in that email to confirm the new email address.

I forgot my password. Or the site says my password is invalid.

At the login screen, enter your email address then click "Forgot Password?" You will be prompted with a hint—if you created one—or you can request a new password be emailed to you.

Please Note: FPC does not keep track of passwords. If you have a trainee account that is linked with an agency, you can also ask your group administrator to reset the password for you. Or you can call FPC support staff to reset it.

How do I change my own password?

Once you log in, click on the "Account Settings" button, then click on "Edit > Password" and follow the prompts.

I tried everything and still can't log in.

If you are still having problems registering or logging in, send us a comment or call 800-777-6636 8:30 am-5 pm (Pacific time).

Courses

What's the difference between Self-Paced Courses and Advanced Parenting Workshops?

Self-Paced Courses include the media presentation, review questionnaire, completion certificate, and printable course summary. Most courses also include handouts. You can watch these courses any time. They can be completed in one sitting, or you can stop and come back to continue watching later on.

Advanced Parenting Workshops begin with the same media presentation as the Self-Paced Courses, then a hypothetical family study is presented. Participants work together, via an online discussion board, to understand the child's behavior and develop an action plan for the resource parents. Participants also answer questions individually and keep a private, online notebook. FPC staff monitors the postings and the discussions.

What is your Refund Policy?

Members who have self-registered accounts and are purchasing courses through FPC:

Courses that have not been started: the purchaser has unconditional rights to refunds within 30 days of purchase.
Courses that have been partially viewed (opened and viewed to the beginning of the third segment): may be exchanged for one of equal value, within 30 days of purchase.
Self-registered accounts that are dormant for over 2 years may be deactivated without a refund.

How long can I access a course?

Once you begin viewing a course, you have 30 days to complete it. You can watch any or all portions of the course as often as you like for 30 days, but you may not retake the questionnaire or receive another certificate of completion. If you have an account that is linked to an agency, contact your agency administrator as they may grant an extension of 30, 15, or 7 days. Self-registered members: please contact FPC Support to request an extension.

How many training credit hours will I receive for taking a course?

The number of training hours varies by course, with some courses providing more credit hours than others. The recommended training hours for each course are estimated from how long it takes to:

watch the course completely
read all handouts
review sections you did not fully understand

Additionally, each certifying agency has a say on the number of hours that will be accepted. The actual number of training credit hours accepted for a course is at the discretion of each agency.

Technical

Can I view FPC courses on my phone or tablet?

Yes, FPC's courses should be viewable on most modern phones and tablets. We've created a separate smartphone player to ensure the best viewing experience on small screens.

I am on a dialup internet connection. Why does the course take so long to load?

We believe that visual, interactive, and multimedia learning is far more effective than reading long pages of text. With this belief, our courses are built with rich multimedia content. We recommend high-speed internet connections for viewing our courses. We have worked hard to optimize the courses so that they can be viewed via a dialup connection with reasonable download time. If dialup is your only option, please be patient. Another option is to use a computer at your local library. Libraries usually have high-speed internet. You may need to take headphones to listen to our courses at a library. Your FPC account can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection.

Any of the following circumstances may slow down your dialup or high speed connection, and should be resolved before taking FPC courses:

Downloading other content while taking FPC courses.
Spyware, adware, and other computer viruses.
Local outages and technical problems with your modem, router, or internet connection.

A visit to our System Requirements page may help you identify other problems with your computer's configuration that could contribute to this problem.

How do I contact FPC for support?

For further assistance, the best way to contact us is to send us a comment. There is a link to our comment form at the upper right corner of each of our pages. When you send a comment, you can choose to send it to your agency (if your account is linked to an agency) or to us. We will respond to your comment as soon as we can, usually within one business day.

You can also call us.
USA and Canada: 1-541-343-6636
USA only Toll Free: 1-800-777-6636