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Participants learn the importance of parent-child visitation and its association with improved child adjustment and permanency outcomes for children in foster care.  They also learn how to incorporate the following elements of parent-child visitation into case planning and case management activities:  

• Identify appropriate levels of supervision based on the safety threats and progress made by parents
• Identify appropriate people to assist with the visits
• Identify the best location for parent-child visits
• Report information about the visit to the Court

Parenting the Positive Discipline Way is a 15-hour in-service level series of trainings for foster and kinship caregivers which explores tools to teach valuable social and life skills to children instead of using any form of punishment, rewards, praise, permissiveness or logical consequences.  This six-part Positive Discipline series will help foster parents and kinship care providers to better understand why discipline with abused and neglected children is different from the discipline that typically works with children who have not been abused or neglected.  Participants will learn how to use effective discipline that is kind and firm, creates connection before correction, is empowering and encouraging to children to believe in their own capability, and keeps the joy in caregiving.  Participants will gain practice with experiential exercises, group discussions, and handouts to develop skills for getting into the child’s world to understand the belief behind behavior in order to motivate change.  Topics and techniques apply to all ages and many settings.

The Alliance also offers An Introduction to Positive Discipline for those who are interested in experiencing a 2 hour sample of Positive Discipline training around techniques and principles for your home.

Additional Resources

Click one of the images below to hear about Positive Discipline from Dr. Jane Nelsen (author and co-founder of Positive Discipline), and Darcey Hancock (Statewide Administrator of the Division of Licensed Resources in Washington).  You will hear them discuss some of the foundational concepts of Positive Discipline, and how WA State Law around discipline fits with Positive Discipline techniques.

Participants will learn how to identify the challenges of collaboration. This training provides Social Workers and Foster Parents/Relative Caregivers an opportunity to view teamwork from each other’s perspectives while encouraging reflection regarding the features and values of effective teaming. 

Training participants will:

• learn how to identify barriers to effective teaming,
• explore solutions to these barriers, and
• develop tailored approaches and practices that facilitate teamwork.

This one-day classroom in-service will focus on the placement and dependency filing process policies rolling out in June, 2018.  Caseworkers will explore how to assess the information gathered during contacts with families in determining when a child can be safely maintained in the home or if placement is necessary. The course will discuss legal authority to place and to ensure that placements are made according to the law and department policy. Disproportionality at placement decision and decision to return home will be discussed. Reasonable and active efforts to prevent placement will be identified as well as the necessary communication with parents regarding the reasons for removal and what conditions need to be met for the child’s safe return home. Tips for reducing trauma at placement, ensuring placements are safe and can meet the child’s needs, and setting up initial visitation between the parent and child based on the safety assessment will be discussed.

Suggested reading prior to class:

The Sounding Board-Controlling Heuristic Biases

The Sounding Board-Thinking Fast and Slow

This 6-hour focused topic training for caregivers provides a foundation for understanding Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  The training develops caregivers’ understanding of the diagnosis (especially in those under 6 years of age) as well as covering Developmental Trauma Disorder for complex trauma events often experienced by youth in alternative care situations.  Dissociation and hyper arousal behavior patterns are explored as protective responses to challenges in the environment and methods to reduce the impacts discussed.  Strategies for healing and resolving trauma as caregivers are explored.

Randi Hankins, CSW, CMHS
Randi Hankins is an Associate Professor of Clinical Social Work in the Masters of Social Work program at Walla Walla College. She has worked in the community mental health system as a therapist and clinical director and has been a practicing County Designated Mental Health Professional for the past 28 years. She is a Certified Social Worker and is both a Child Mental Health Specialist and a Developmental Disabilities Mental Health Specialist. Her primary areas of clinical practice and expertise include sexually reactive children, adolescent disruptive behaviors, psychotropic medications, crisis intervention and suicide prevention.