Foster Care Training

A significant challenge faced by many social service care providers is how to effectively engage and coach Transitional Aged parents towards healthy co-parenting practices. Young parents who are involved in systems of care experience a variety of challenges such as poverty, low job skills, ACEs, personality disorders, autism, cultural & language obstacles, and substance use disorder. We must acknowledge that cooperation between young parents may be difficult under these circumstances. Strategies for overcoming these obstacles will be shared through lecture and experiential practice.

Participants will learn strategies to support young parents in setting a foundation for personal care and understanding child development needs, and learn ways to communicate to clients the impact that positive and negative interactions have on child behavior. We will examine different types of authority (having, assigning, and gaining it), the various roles that two co-parents can share, and how they can share child raising with other members of their own household and that of the co-parent. We will explore the basics of co-parenting and the microskills of assertive communication and negotiation. We will infuse Motivational Interviewing and simple coaching strategies to empower service providers in various roles to support either or both co-parents.