Foster and Kinship Care Training
We invite you to join our Foster and Kinship Care Education Classes.
When you are:
- Parenting a child placed in out-of-home care and you want to improve your parenting skills
- Taking care of a relative's child
- Taking care of a non-relative family friend's child
- Needing to complete State mandated foster care education requirements
- Interested in being a foster or adoptive parent
Pre-Service Classes:
RFA (Resource Family Approval) Training
This 12-hour training (Module 1, 2, 3 & 4) provides basic training required for those who wish to become a resource family provider. This program
is a unified, family-friendly, and child-centered approval process. It
will replace the existing processes for the procedures listed below by
combining elements of all of them into a single approval standard:
- Licensing of resource family homes;
- Approval of relatives and non-relative extended family members as resource family providers or legal guardians; and
- Approval of adoptive families.
Receive training and education on the following topics:
- Accessing Health Services
- Discovering Community Resources
- Understanding Foster Care and the Child Welfare System
- Appreciating Special Needs of Foster and Kinship Children
Additionally, RFA
will provide greater support to relative and non-related extended
family member caregivers, reduce placement moves and improve permanency
processes for children and youth.
These classes meet on either Tuesdays and Thursdays or all day Saturday. Please check class calendars for specific dates.
Module 1 Agenda:
- Resource Family Approval Overview
- Child Welfare & Probation Systems
- Safety, Permanency & Well-being
- Concurrent Planning & Types of Permanency
- Visitation
Module 2 Agenda:
- Members of the Professional Team
- Cultural Humility & Trans-racial Adoption
- Personal Rights
- Prudent Parent Standard
- Confidentiality
- Mandated Reporting
Module 3 Agenda:
- Cultural Competence vs. Cultural Humility
- Personal Rights of Children & You
- LGBTQ & SOGIE
- Working with Bio Families
- Punishment vs. Discipline
- Managing Emotional & Behavioral Needs
Module 4 Agenda:
- Accessing Health Services
- Mental Health Services
- Psychotropic Medication
- Education Laws & Rights
- Academic Success
- Safety at School
Infants in Care
Infants in Care is a required pre-service class offered at
College of the Redwoods for any resource parent who plans to care for an infant
under the age of one year old. Often, many of the infants who come into the foster
care system were exposed to addictive opiate drugs or alcohol while in the
mother’s womb. Babies who are exposed to opioids for prolonged periods in the
womb are born with a physical addiction to the drug. During the Infants in Care
class, a trained facilitator will provide in depth instruction on ways to care
for an infant who was exposed to opiates in the womb and who may suffer from
Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS). Some of the topics covered in the class for
infants with NAS include: providing a quiet and calm environment for the
infant, minimizing the environmental stimuli the infant is exposed to, swaying
infant in your arms, and responding early to the infant’s needs. In addition,
the facilitator will also cover important topics such as caring for an infant
born with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), as well as caring for an
infant born premature.
On-Going Foster Care Education
California State Law Requires licensed resource families to complete 8 hours of annual foster care education. It is mandatory to take Module 2 each year to renew your license and the other 5 hours can be accrued through other FKCE classes or taken online through the Quality Parenting initiative website. Given that children are coming into the court system with greater histories of abuse and neglect than ever before, it has become more important than ever to develop excellent parenting skills, knowledge of the court system, and strong and on-going support systems.
In-Service Classes:
Adoption Support and Resources
This class is designed for families that are thinking about becoming adoptive parents, in the process of becoming adoptive parents, or already are an adoptive family. The facilitator has many years of experience as an adoptive liaison, working with pre and post adoptive families, birth families, and Kinship providers. If this subject applies to you, please come and check out this amazing class and meet other adoptive parents. This class is offered quarterly.
CPR & First Aid
Learn how to take care of your loved ones or any others in need should an emergency, accident or injury occur. Learn how to save a life. The trainers show you how to do dressings, help stop bleeding, basic arm slings, help save a drowning victim, and other simple emergency tips. Trainers is certified by the American Red Cross. The FKCE Program will now be handing out certificates as instructed by the county for the CPR/First Aid classes. The CPR/First Aid class will continue to be free to all participants. The certification is good for 2 years. This class is offered once a month on Saturday. DUE TO COVID-19, THIS CLASS IS ONLY AVAILABLE ONLINE THROUGH RED CROSS AT A COST OF $35.
Mental Health Toolkit
Mental Health Toolkit for Resource Families is a training that will provide general overview and basic skills for resource families. Most children in foster care will at some point experience challenging and often scary behaviors that can greatly impact the success of being in their placement. This class will help the resource family learn some techniques that can help keep the child safe until the situation dissipates and/or until professional help can assist. Trainer Alyssa Thom is a licensed clinical social worker working as a mental health clinician for Humboldt County, Children and Family Services. She previously worked over 9 years as a Child Welfare social worker and supervisor
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) Awareness Training
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children is a form of human trafficking happening around the world that occurs when an individual buys, trades or sells sexual acts with a child. In this workshop your will learn about State and Federal Laws, Local and National Statistics, Local Issues, Profile of a Trafficker/Pimp, and Cultural Contributors.This training is about raising awareness, recognizing the dynamics, identifying the vulnerabilities, and identifying CSEC warning signs. Most importantly, you will learn how foster and kinship home care intersects with CSEC.
Caregiver Self-care
Being a caregiver is stressful and we may often feel as though we
do not have time for self-care. But what really is self-care? Is it bubble
baths and alone time? Or is it something more? And why is it so important
anyway? In this webinar, we will discuss ways to identify trauma and secondary
trauma and why this matters. We will define “self-care” and learn new ways you
can care for yourself, some of which can be shared with the kids in your life.
We will also discuss self-regulation and co-regulation. This webinar is useful
for all RFA parents and anyone else who wants to better understand how we can
improve relationships by taking better care of ourselves.
Gender & Sexual Orientation
As care givers and caring adults, we want to support our children, but how do you talk to them about gender and sexual orientation? In this webinar, we will review definitions, practice conversations, and provide suggestions for helping youth of all genders and sexual orientations. If you are a caregiver, social worker, or other foster youth advocate, come join us for an unbiased supportivevenue for voicing concerns, asking questions, and understanding responsibilities
Other Special Training
The community college Foster & Kinship Care Education Program annually offers classes on a variety of topics, including:
- Cultural diversity and sensitivity
- Accessing education and health services
- Medically fragile infants and children
- Self-esteem enhancement
- Understanding and working with the court system
- Basic child development
- Adoption and concurrent planning issues
- Special issues as needed
Refer to the class calendars for specific dates of these trainings.