Alliance Course Catalog

Caregiver Core Training (CCT) is the mandatory training for Washington State’s caregivers to become licensed. Caregiver Core Training can be taken two ways – online or in the classroom.

If you prefer to use a self-paced, online eLearning, please consider the general guidelines for online trainings listed below, and then scroll down to Registration Instructions and click the link to start the online course.

If you prefer to take the course in a classroom (conducted at various locations around the state) click this link to register.

Both the online and classroom training cover the same critical content.

Each participant must register separately: if a couple plans to complete the training together, each member must still register and go through the online course individually.

CCT Online Version

The 24-hour Caregiver Core Training is made up of eight sessions (each about three hours long) and a field experience, which can be completed at any point during the online portion. There is also a mandatory coaching session after the online portion is completed.

Session 1: Introduction to the Child Welfare System
Session 2: Working as a Member of a Team
Session 3: Working with Birth Families
Session 4: Cultural Connections and Advocacy
Session 5: Growing Up with Trauma, Grief, and Loss
Session 6: Understanding and Managing Behavior
Session 7: Communication and Crisis Management
Session 8: Getting Ready and the Effects on the Caregiving Family

Field Experience: Participants will learn outside the classroom by choosing an activity that will give them more awareness of the experience of children within the system or of the role of a caregiver for children in the system.

The sessions are designed to help you understand how the system works, what your role is as a member of the team, how to effectively work with birth families in order to best support the child, how caregiving may impact your own family, child development and the impact of trauma, all about attachment, how to incorporate and honor a child's culture into your own family, and more.  The sessions include the voices of former foster youth, current caregivers and birth parents who have been involved with the system.

Each session includes resources and additional information. Here are the handouts that will also be provided in each session.

You have one year to complete the course including the online training, field experience and coaching call. We will let the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) Licensing Division and the foster care Recruitment and Retention Contractors in your area know about your progress through the course so they can offer you additional support if needed. We don’t track or share any information about how you responded to activities or quiz questions within the online training. We simply want to make sure you have the support you need to complete the training.

CCT online general guidelines

The online version works best for people who:

• Have regular access to a tablet, laptop, or desktop computer
• Are comfortable with technology
• Don’t mind reading on a screen
• Have high-speed internet access that allows them to participate in the online course and play videos

If this isn’t for you, or if you start the course online and then change your mind, you are always welcome to take the classroom version of CCT instead. Click here to register.

Need technical help with registering for or completing CCT Online? Click here to submit a request.

This 6-hour in-service course will prepare caregivers to work with children with sexual behaviors concerns and create an environment to keep the child and other household members safe. Participants will explore values and beliefs before reviewing typical child sexual development and the impacts of trauma, abuse and neglect on development and behaviors. Participants will explore how sexual abuse can impact development, self-image and the household supporting them. After reviewing typical sexual development, participants will learn how different experiences and circumstances may lead to sexual behavior concerns and how to intervene and respond safely. Caregivers will learn their role in promoting health sexual development, positive messaging, prevention education, the importance of establishing house rules and other ideas to maintain safety for the whole household.

Many children in foster or kinship care have a history of exposure to trauma. Caring for Children Who Have Experienced Trauma: A Workshop for Resource Parents (RPC) Session 1 is a 4 module, 6 hour focused topic training which includes nine case studies of representative foster children from the ages of eight months to 15 years, as well as cases of secondary traumatic stress in parents.

Many children in the foster care system have lived through traumatic experiences.  Understanding how trauma affects children can help you make sense of your child’s sometimes baffling behavior, feelings and attitudes.  Once you understand why your child behaves the way he or she does, you’ll be better prepared to help him or her cope with the effects of trauma.  In this workshop, you’ll improve your ability to communicate with your child, learn skills and techniques to influence your child’s behavior and attitudes, and learn ways to reduce the stress of parenting a traumatized child.  The goal of this workshop is to make you a more effective resource parent, and to enable you to have more of the positive experiences that make being a resource parent so worthwhile.

Session 1 is a 4 module, 6 hour training, including:

• Module 1: Intro on Trauma Informed Parenting
• Module 2: Trauma 101
• Module 3: Understanding Trauma’s Effects
• Module 4: Building a Safe Place

This session will support staff in caring for and keeping children safe when children must be transported by or cared for by afterhours staff.  Participants will review basic considerations for caring for children across developmental stages, including children who have challenging behaviors or exceptional care needs.  An introduction to car seats, including recommendations and mandates for their use and overall installation process is provided to further support staff in keeping children safe.  Participants will identify and discuss general worker safety considerations, both in the field and while supervising youth in our care, as well as ways to respond early to support everyone’s safety.  Lastly, an overview of professional writing for case notes is provided.

This two-day in-service training will prepare new CFWS caseworkers and experienced CFWS caseworkers who wish to improve their practice to engage parents and families from the point of transfer or case assignment. Participants will learn how to make the most of the first meeting and monthly visits with the parent in building a working relationship geared toward safe reunification and timely permanency. Participants will explore engaging children and caregivers during monthly visits, best interest considerations and permanency planning. Participants will be provided tools to improve the quality of court reports in addressing policy requirements and good practice.

****All participants are required to bring their tablets to the training. ****

This presentation is a culmination of information collected through individual interviews with American Indian/Alaskan Native resource parents, youth, and tribal professionals and the results of a comprehensive systematic literature review. This mixed methods study produced 16 characteristics and 13 competencies that were considered to be critical to successfully parent American Indian/Alaskan Native children who are placed in out of home care. These 16 characteristics include having a strong cultural identity; and for nontribal caregivers, those that are culturally sensitive; having an appreciation for diversity and other worldviews, having confidence, being respectful, being patient, having a positive attitude/being optimistic, having a good sense of humor, being generous, being adaptive/resilient, being someone that embraces learning/open to new knowledge development, having a loving/caring spirit, being a trustworthy person, being willing to keep siblings together, being willing to access tribal and non-tribal social service programs, a willingness to access kin and family as a resource for support. The 13 critical competencies that resources parents need to successfully parent AI/AN children include having an understanding of child development, traditional child rearing practices, skills in parent/child relationship building and attachment, having an understanding of traditional/alternative discipline strategies/behavior management, learning self-care strategies, coping, and building and maintaining strong support systems, developing cultural competency, humility, understanding the economy of generosity and reciprocity, traditional communication styles, learning how to assess health and wellness from an indigenous perspective, and having an understanding of history, laws and policies that contributed to the development and implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act.

Learning Objectives:

1. Introduce the WA child welfare workforce to a Children’s Bureau developed and supported state of the art, national foster/adoptive parent training curriculum
2. Prepare the child welfare workforce to recruit/retain AI/AN and non-tribal foster/adoptive parents who can successfully parents AI/AN children placed in out of home care
3. Prepare the child welfare workforce to work with AI/AN grandparents and other relatives raising children in Indian Country

Angelique Day
Associate Professor of University of Washington School of Social Work

Angelique Day received her PhD in interdisciplinary health science in 2011 from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. She earned an MSW from Michigan State University in 2005 and a BS summa cum laude in sociology/psychology from Central Michigan University.  Much of her research focuses on foster care youth, including examining the differences in college retention rates between foster care youth and other low-income first-generation college students, and examining “youth voice” and its impact on child welfare, education and health policy reform. From 2011–2016, she was an assistant professor of social work at Wayne State University, where she taught both undergraduate and graduate classes. She’s been an evaluator, principal investigator or project coordinator on major studies funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, W. K. Kellogg Foundation, and McGregor Fund, among others.  Day has received many awards and honors, including a year-long congressional fellowship awarded during the 2016–2017 academic year by the Society for Research on Child Development and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She was assigned to the office of Congressman Danny K. Davis where she helped develop the congressman’s child welfare and higher education legislative portfolios.

In this short eLearning, participants will come to understand the importance of the ChIPR in conveying information to caregivers and potential placement providers. Participants will learn important techniques to write an accurate and behaviorally specific ChIPR describing both the strengths and needs of the child. Participants will understand their responsibilities pertaining to documentation and distribution of this document.

Coaching sessions are utilized to enhance a learner’s specific skill attainment in an identified area of practice.  Coaching sessions are provided to Children’s Administration workforce to help workers attain specific skills pertinent to their daily work/practice in child welfare.  Identified goals are created and progress towards those goals is measured by both the learner and the coach after each session. 

Ad Hoc field based coaching topics include:

Tasks such as AFCARS, redaction, case closure, and entering ICWA/NAIR information into FamLink, filing of documentation into case files.

This Coaching Session for Caregivers covers the financial, legal, and emotional challenges of raising a relative’s child. Services and support when raising a relative's child can be a lifesaver. Often kinship caregivers do not access the benefits which are available to them. This coaching session will address the issues that Kinship Caregivers struggle with most at an individual level:

1. Financial Needs
2. Legal Challenges
3. Navigating public service systems
4. Needing more social services
5. Information about resources/caregiving

This class is designed for licensed and unlicensed caregivers caring for children currently or previously involved in the dependency system. Caregiver Core Training (CCT) is not a prerequisite. However, this course is supplemental to CCT for kinship caregivers, and can be a field experience during CCT.

Coaching sessions are utilized to address a caregiver's specific needs and build specific skills. Identified goals are created and progress towards those goals is measured by both the learner and the coach after the session.

This Coaching Session for Caregivers builds upon information contained in Caregivers Core Training (CCT) and additional training around the importance of visitation. Caregivers will learn their role in visitation, including how they can support the child, and will more deeply understand the pivotal role that visitation plays in supporting children’s relationships with birth families. Participants will gain skills to successfully team with others involved in the child’s visitation, and will explore how to be a resource to birth families. This coaching session includes activities that allow the caregiver to assess the effects of visitation on the child(ren) in their care and create a plan to address any concerns which may arise in the future.

Coaching sessions are utilized to enhance a learner’s specific skill attainment in an identified area of practice.  Coaching sessions are provided to the Department of Children, Youth and Family's workforce to help workers attain specific skills pertinent to their daily work/practice in child welfare.  Identified goals are created and progress towards those goals is measured by both the learner and the coach after each session.

Assessing for Child Safety throughout the Life of the Case field based coaching topics include:

Assessing for present danger/impending danger; applying the Child Safety Framework; understanding the 17 safety threats and how to plan for present danger with protective action plans and safety plans in cases with identified impending danger; how to make appropriate collateral contacts; interviewing of children, parents/caregivers and all adults in the home; using medical consultation (Med-Cons); scheduling and preparing for appropriate case staffings; using Structured Decision Making (SDM) to help assess risk in cases and reassessing child safety throughout the life of the case.  

Coaching sessions are an opportunity for participants to receive training and support on critical topics that is flexible enough to respond to their current needs.  Coaching sessions can involve one or several workers, and may be delivered in person, on the phone or by other real time collaboration (face-time, etc).  Preferably, they allow material to be understood within a context of an actual case, and completion of current work.

This coaching session opportunity for staff will aim at compliance with ICWA, give recommendations for working with Tribes and Tribal families, revisit the Federal Act, State ICW codes and current policies/procedures when ICWA applies or is being considered.  

This session will revisit current practices in CA, specialized units and steps available for staff, including tailored topics such as:

1. Initial Intake (ICW Procedures at initial contact) 
2. Tribal/State Agreements 
3. Inquiry and Verification of Child’s Indian Status 
4. Disclosure of Confidential Records/Information to Tribes
5. Child Protective Services for Indian Children 
6. Casework Activities for Court Proceedings – forms Legal Notice, FamLink Response from NAIR eLearning, Monthly Progress report, 
7. Indian Child Placement Preferences and Relative Search
8. Adoption
9. Interstate Compact on the Placement of Indian Children
10. Local Indian Child Welfare Advisory Committees 
11. Payments for Services for Children in Tribal Care or Custody
12. Casework Services for Children and Families of Non-Federally Recognized Tribes and Canadian First Nations

Coaching for Supervisors provides a one-on-one professional development opportunity and is an essential element in supporting the daily work supervisors do with their units and staff. Sessions can be scheduled in 30 minute intervals and can cover:

• Observation and feedback on monthly supervisory case reviews
• Use of Supervisor Review Tool in FamLink
• Documentation / Assessment review and approvals
• Observation and feedback on skills used to engage with staff
• Organization and Prioritization of work

This course provides information on the service contract process and the role of Social Workers, Fiduciaries, Program Managers, and Contract Managers. Participants will learn how to identify what types of services do and do not require contracts, how to determine if a contract is already in place, how to access contracted providers appropriately, how CA Contract Managers develop contracts and the Social Worker’s role in the process, as well as the process for paying for contracted services through FamLink.

Required training for all caregivers in First Aid/CPR, Blood borne pathogens/HIV training. Training made available in English- and Spanish-speaking participants.

The Alliance contracts with certified trainers to provide CPR, First Aid, and Blood-borne pathogens/HIV training.

Keep the Beat offers this class to all caregivers of foster children free of charge.  This includes grandparents, babysitters, etc.  Keep the Beat provides these classes statewide and free of charge whether or not you are licensed.

For years society has encouraged colorblind ideology without taking into consideration the impact this has on People of Color.  Through video, interactive activities and discussion of the research, participants are challenged to examine implicit bias, stereotype threat and its effect on cross cultural relationships and ethnic/racial identity development.  As a result, participants deepen their appreciation of challenges facing People of Color, grow in self-awareness and learn ways to mitigate the impact.

Objectives:
Participants Will…

1. Engage in courageous conversations;
2. Deepen their understanding of implicit bias and stereotype threat;
3. Learn strategies to mitigate the impact of implicit bias.

This training is presented by Cultures Connecting, LLC. Cultures Connecting, LLC was founded in 2008, providing culturally relevant professional development, keynote addresses, consulting and coaching services to organizations seeking to improve their staffs’ ability to effectively work with diverse cultures. 

Owners, Caprice D. Hollins, Psy.D., and Ilsa M. Govan, M.A., have over 30 years combined experience researching race related topics, designing curriculum, and facilitating culturally relevant professional development workshops.