Foster Parents in California Now Have Free Access to Online Training

December 13, 2017

Eugene, OR — As part of an overall effort to reform the continuum of care for foster, adoptive, and kinship children, the California Department of Social Services has contracted for the use of FosterParentCollege.com in order to provide high quality, interactive online training for its resource parents. With this DSS contract, foster and adoptive parents working with agencies in California will have free access to 55 online courses, including 11 courses in Spanish. These trauma-focused courses fit the vision of the Continuum Care Reform Collaborative, and they provide insight and solutions for even the most challenging child behaviors and conditions.

In line with the state's collaborative efforts to use evidence-based training, FosterParentCollege.com (FPC) is recognized by the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare. Each course is designed and written with the assistance of nationally recognized experts. The FPC courses use a unique learning approach which blends streaming video with interactive activities; in addition, the viewer has access to printable handouts, topic-specific discussion boards, and review questions.

“Being a resource parent to children who may be suffering from complex trauma requires a caring person who is a team player with a high level of skills,” said Lee White, President of FosterParentCollege.com. “Previously, it was a challenge for agencies to provide these parent team members with training specific to their child's behavior at the right moment, often leaving parents feeling unsupported. Now, just-in-time training is available 24/7. It is our hope that we will be able to improve stability for children in the care system.”

California county and agency staff will also have access to FPC's proprietary administrative management system, where they can register parents as users, assign courses, track user progress, and generate user reports.

The FPC website, developed over the last 16 years, was originally funded through multiple Small Business Innovation Research grants from the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development. The website has provided over 200,000 trainings and is utilized by many states, agencies, and individual parents.

For more information regarding FosterParentCollege.com or the research studies, contact Liz Brooks at Liz@northwestmedia.com.