Foster Care Training

Family Finding Boot Camps are a four day immersion for staff, supervisors and managers in learning the philosophy, framework, and skills of Family Finding practice.  Participants work in small and medium sized teams, actually practicing Family Finding for children and youth who are in out-of-home care or supporting families who are new to child welfare.  In past boot camps, participants have typically learned to, and have successfully completed, the Discovery and initial Engagement steps of Family Finding in fewer than four hours of work.  The goal for the teams by day five of the training is to have found 40 or more relatives and other connections, identified family members with functional strengths, engaged two lead family members, and invited 12 or more adults to a Preparation and Planning Meeting to be held within two weeks of the training.  Participants leave the immersion experience having learned and practiced the skills of Family Finding, developed a sense of confidence in their use of the skills, and most importantly gained the understanding that Family Finding for most youth and families takes less than 20 hours and can be completed in weeks rather than months.