Foster Care Training

One of the most important roles in helping our kids, is helping their parents. Similar to when we fly on a plane and the oxygen masks come down, who are we supposed to put those masks on? NOT our kids but on ourselves. We can’t give oxygen to kids without giving it to their caregivers first and, if others in our field understood this as well as most Parent and Family Partners do, it would be great! As a Parent Partner, you have “lived experience” regarding some of the things that the caregivers you support are currently experiencing. Nothing develops empathy like having had similar kinds of experiences and that is why we have Parent and Family Partners!

It is also possible that, because of these often very similar experiences, we can also struggle with how close or distant our relationships with our clients should be in order to maintain our ability to be helpful and therapeutic? We provide services to our youth and their families in their own homes, in schools and in their communities; this can be confusing for us and for our clients as to what our roles are and what kinds of relationships are being developed with our clients. The true helping relationship requires clear relationship boundaries so that we don’t unintentionally exploit our clients or experience our own “burn out”. This training clarifies what we mean by boundaries, ways in which we might be overstepping them, what is meant by dual relationships, and the issues related to self disclosure and building that therapeutic trusting relationship that is so necessary in order to offer services that will allow our clients to achieve positive outcomes!