An Update on Our Website Redesign

The Foster Parent College website redesign continues to progress! Our team is working hard to bring this together for the individuals, families, and agencies using our site. Website visitors can expect a new modern look with easy-to-use navigation and a user-friendly Personal Home page. When we approach the launch of the new site, FPC will send updates to our users. In addition, we have debuted a new logo, which we could not wait to share with you all! We are looking forward to the release of the website redesign. Stay tuned!

Summer Conference Schedule

International Congress on Evidence-based Parenting Support (I-CEPS)

June 6–8 | Virtual
Foster Parent College is excited to be presenting a video poster at the I-CEPS this year! The Congress aims to bring the evidence-based parenting support community together and empower parents and families around the world to benefit the next generation. FPC’s poster presentation will cover the FPC-IHS (Institute for Human Services) Blended In-Person and Online Pre-Service Training Curriculum and the research behind it. The FPC-IHS Blended Pre-Service Training is recognized by the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC), where it received a "Promising Research Evidence" rating with "High" relevance to child welfare. The 5-minute prerecorded presentation will be played at specific times during the virtual conference (times TBD). If you are interested in checking out FPC’s poster presentation, the playing times will be posted closer to the conference start date and can be found here: https://www.i-ceps.pafra.org/.

Family Focused Treatment Association (FFTA)

July 10–13, Columbus, OH
Lee White, Co-Director and Co-Founder of FosterParentCollege.com, will be exhibiting at FFTA’s 37th Annual Conference this year. The conference brings together leaders, practitioners, and partners in the child welfare industry to share knowledge for advancing wellness for families. If your agency is planning to attend the conference, be sure to stop by the FPC booth to learn more about our new courses, research projects on the horizon, and more!

Building Trust, Motivating Change

Created in collaboration with Liz Barnett, PhD, a skilled trainer in motivational interviewing, Building Trust, Motivating Change teaches resource parents how to provide an open, nonjudgmental environment, where teens can strengthen their motivation and commitment to change.

The skills of motivational interviewing, on which this course is based, have been identified by The Family First Prevention Services Act as an evidence-based practice. This course will help parents:

• understand how to build trust with a youth
• know the three components of motivational interviewing (spirit, skills, and process) and how they work together to bring about change
• understand how to use the skills of asking open-ended questions, affirmations, reflections, and summaries to motivate change
• recognize and encourage change talk

Our online course, Building Trust, Motivating Change, is designed for parents of teenagers but may be beneficial to parents of younger youth as well. Learn more about the course here.

Courses in Production at Foster Parent College

The scripting and production teams at Foster Parent College are continually creating courses on a variety of topics. Look for courses on these topics within the coming year:

• Autism: A Strength-Based Approach
  This course was created with Robert Nickel, MD, a developmental pediatrician, and Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, PhD, a specialist on autism, an autistic woman herself, and adoptive mother of a child with autism. It will help resource parents understand what autism is, what it’s like to be autistic, what services are available, and which parenting strategies will help children get the right supports.
  Anticipated release date: Late spring 2023
• Preparación de adolescentes para la educación superior
  (translated from Preparing Teens for Postsecondary Education)
  Attending college or other postsecondary education can be a challenge for any person. However, children in care face unique educational challenges as a result of the complex trauma they have experienced and a lack of resources and support. This course, developed with John Burton Advocates for Youth, explores how resource parents can help youth in grades 6 to 10 overcome obstacles, prepare for postsecondary education, and achieve their educational and career goals. This Spanish-language version is translated from, and will be dubbed over, the original English-language course.
  Anticipated release date: Summer 2023
• ¿Es posible que sea TEAF?
  (translated from Could It Be FASD?)
  While fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are surprisingly common in children in care, they can often be difficult to diagnose, as the signs and symptoms are associated with a number of other conditions. This course was developed by Kathryn Page, PhD, a former director of an FASD diagnostic clinic and author on the subject of FASD, and Robert Nickel, MD, a developmental pediatrician. It explores fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, how to identify them, and how parents can support children who were prenatally exposed to alcohol. This Spanish-language version is translated from, and will be dubbed over, the original English-language course.
  Anticipated release date: Late Summer 2023
• Sexual Health and Wellness
  Scripted in collaboration with Ellen Friedrichs, MA, a health educator, and presented by Theresa Reed, MEd, an experienced resource parent trainer, this course will give resource parents the tools to talk with the youth in their care about sexuality and sexual health. It includes videos provided by four former foster youth talking about what they did and did not learn from their resource parents about sexual health, and how that impacted their lives.
  Anticipated release date: Fall 2023
• CPR Refresher Course
  This awareness-level interactive training is being developed by Foster Parent College and Angie Buckalew and Megan Wendling of HTH Safety Solutions. It is designed for foster, adoptive, and kinship parents to refresh their knowledge of CPR for infants, children, and adults; using an AED with CPR; and preventing injuries that could lead to the need for CPR.
  Anticipated release date: Late 2023
• Supporting LGBTQ+ Youth in Care
  This course is being developed by Angela Weeks, DBA, who has extensive experience creating and implementing programs that improve the lives of LGBTQ+ youth in care and their resource families. It features videos provided by six former foster youth who identify as LGBTQ+ talking about their experiences and gives resource parents strategies to fully support all the youth in their care.
  Anticipated release date: Early 2024

Other courses in development will cover the topics of: first aid refresher (being scripted with Angie Buckalew and Megan Wendling of HTH Safety Solutions); secondary trauma (being scripted with Rowena Mudiappa, LCSW); toxic stress, complex trauma, and insecure attachments (being scripted with Beth Tyson, MA); helping children tell the truth (being scripted with Rick Delaney, PhD); parenting youth who have been trafficked (being scripted with Carolina Fuentes, LCSW, and Jenn Shimer, MS); and sleep problems (an updated version of our current course).

Holidays at Foster Parent College

Please note, the offices for Foster Parent College will be closed to observe the following holidays:

• Memorial Day   Monday, May 29
• Juneteenth   Monday, June 19
• Independence Day   Tuesday, July 4

Connect with Us

fpc@northwestmedia.com
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linkedin.com/company/fosterparentcollege.com

Solutions for Agency Staff is a quarterly newsletter produced by FosterParentCollege.com with the goal of sharing recent updates with our users.

Northwest Media, Inc. | 326 West 12th Ave. Eugene, Oregon 97401 | phone: 800-777-6636
fpc@northwestmedia.com | www.fosterparentcollege.com