¿Sabía que más de la mitad de los asientos de automóvil para niños están instalados incorrectamente? El automóvil es un lugar peligroso para un niño, pero hay muchos recursos que pueden ayudarlo a asegurarse de cumplir con todas las pautas legales y de seguridad. Este breve curso de aprendizaje electrónico es el punto de partida perfecto, ya que lo ayudará a seleccionar, ajustar e instalar el asiento de automóvil de manera correcta cada vez que necesite transportar a un niño. Encontrará una descripción general de los requisitos básicos y de las leyes del estado de Washington, así como consejos y ejemplos reales de instalación. El curso está lleno de datos útiles y asombrosos: el momento adecuado para que un niño deje de usar un asiento elevador puede sorprenderlo. También encontrará enlaces a muchos recursos externos, donde podrá obtener información más detallada.

This course is also available in English at https://allianceforchildwelfare.org/content/car-seat-safety-select-fit-and-install-correctly-elearning-caregivers

This course is designed to teach social workers how to identify the service needs of families when trying to prevent out-of-home placement or to support reunification. Working through scenarios social workers actively engage in the decision-making process for appropriate services. Workers will learn the fundamentals of the referral process, engagement with providers and families as well as documentation.

Getting a new placement is a big transition, and there are many ways you can prepare for and navigate the process to make it as successful as possible for yourself, your family and the youth or child. This webinar addresses both the emotional elements to new placements and the practical details of requirements, paperwork, forms and expectations.

You will focus on four areas: Getting Ready; The First Day, Week and Month; Settling In; and Working With the System. You will share ideas with other participants around how to prepare for a new placement, including ways to make them feel comfortable and safety precautions to take. A big part of this training is understanding which forms you will receive and what they mean; what meetings, appointments or hearings you need to be aware of; and who the key players are during this time.

You will leave the training with an understanding of what is expected during the first 30 days of a new placement. You also will know how to access resources when you have questions – you will probably have many, but there is a great community of support available to you and the new child in your care.

LEARN is a suicide awareness training that helps participants identify and act on signs of suicide. The training was developed in the School of Social Work by noted Suicidologist, Dr. Jennifer Stuber, and is based on best practices outlined by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA). LEARN is designed to empower individuals to help others move in the direction of hope, recovery, and survival.

The Child Safety Framework and the Structured Decision Making Risk Assessment are the tools that should guide caseworkers in making their most important decisions. Both tools aim to improve critical thinking and objective decision making, and ultimately to help DCYF correctly identify what level of intervention – from placement out of the home to providing referrals and case closure – is the most appropriate for each child and family. As a supervisor, you must understand these tools, but you also have a responsibility to integrate the tools into your supervision. This eLearning aims to strengthen your understanding by providing an overview of each of these tools. It also asks initial questions about how you might continue to integrate these tools into your work within your unit.

The “Supervising for Safety” series comprises three webinars and an eLearning that aim to support supervisors in the understanding and application of assessment tools and integration of these tools into their supervision. 

In this training, you will first identify the legal, policy and practice guidance that requires children remain home, or return home, whenever safely possible. Then, you will practice guiding a case worker in applying the safety framework tools to their case, and making a decision about whether it’s safe to return a child home.  You will focus in particular on the safety threshold and safety plan analysis questions, which guide safety decisions once we have sufficient information about the family and situation.  You will review guidance on safety planning, and consider how your supervision can support case workers in developing strong safety plans, and monitoring these until the safety threat is no longer active. Lastly, you will make plans to integrate strategies into your supervision practice that help ensure that the safety framework is integrated into all discussions you are having on this topic.

The “Supervising for Safety” series is mandatory for Area Administrators. This individual webinar is mandatory for CPS/FAR and CFWS staff.

Supervisors and supervising program managers from Department of Children, Youth, and Families will come together to learn how to strengthen their supervisorial skills and discuss current practice. Sessions are pertinent to the daily work you do as front-line supervisors and supervising program managers.

Supervisor Core Training (SCT) provides the foundation for effective supervisory practice in the child welfare system. This program will prepare you to become comfortable in assuming your new role through learnings about what it means to be a supervisor in the child welfare system and understanding the new responsibilities of this position.

In this comprehensive and competency-based training program, you will have the opportunity to learn across multiple modalities including webinar, coaching, simulations, eLearnings and field-based activities. This lays the foundation for continuous on-the-job learning and professional development critical to your development as a competent, confident, and effective child welfare supervisor.

Throughout the classes, you will learn skills that you can take right back into your work, such as how to most efficiently use your time, and you will also tackle critical-thinking-focused topics such as how to build a strong team and how to work with your staff to ensure their continued growth.

At the close of Part 2.0 of SCT, you will be inspired and prepared to take on the challenges of this role and in a position to reap its rewards.

Coaching is an important piece of ongoing professional growth, presenting opportunities for personalized skill development and self-assessment. As a supervisor, this takes on added significance as the learnings are applicable to both you and your staff. “Supervisor Reflective Workshops” give you the chance to discuss with your peers coaching successes and barriers, helping you grow and improve.

The workshops are intended to be attended after the completion of the “Learner Centered Coaching Skills for Supervisors and Area Administrators” course and support the integration of the model into supervisory practice. The sessions provide an opportunity for peer discussion around implementation of coaching with your teams. You may work through practice barriers together, or hear how coaching is applied and supports clinical supervision.

Enhanced skill-development opportunities such as how to assess for identified practice barriers, the use of reflective questions, motivational Interviewing strategies/techniques, providing feedback and the use of tools in coaching will be facilitated based on feedback and requests made from each independent group. These workshops will also provide an opportunity for you to think about coaching support you may want to identify and work on with your assigned Alliance coach.

Treehouse Education Advocates work with schools, caregivers, social workers and youth in foster care statewide to resolve difficult issues and remove barriers to school success.

In this training, learn how to access education-related support services; including special education services; and how to advocate for youth who may experience discipline or behavioral issues at school. Treehouse facilitators will also discuss the importance of stabilizing school placements and the educational rights of students experiencing foster care. Finally, caregivers will have the opportunity to learn about the basics of establishing and maintaining positive school relationships in order to create educational success for children and youth in foster care.

In this facilitated discussion group, we will share experiences, resources, and best practices for caring for infants and children who have been exposed to chemicals in utero. We will discuss signs of withdrawals in infants; what works best in caring for an impacted infant including therapeutic handling techniques and share parenting experiences and Resources. We will also discuss issues, behaviors, interventions, effective parenting techniques, and resources for the children in your care.

As a prospective adoptive foster parent, your journey from placement to adoptions is different from other adoption experiences. The goal of concurrent planning leads to unique challenges and beautiful opportunities. During the three sessions, you will consider some of the challenges of the foster-to-adopt process and develop strategies to help you fulfil your role in the adoption triad.

As a caregiver for a child in the foster care system, grief and loss are an inherent part of your journey. You may be grieving a placement that isn’t going as expected or hoped. Even as you celebrate a child’s return home or to an adoptive placement, your family may be grieving the loss of a child or experiencing a sense of loss due to a disrupted placement.

During this supportive facilitated discussion, we will talk about the realities of grief and loss as they relate to the fostering experience.  We will share strategies for recognizing grief in yourself, partner, or your children. And we will look at ways to acknowledge the complexities of loss, navigate grief, and share healthy strategies for walking through the grieving process.

You will also engage in supportive discussions about how to experience loss and yet continue to provide a safe and loving environment for children placed with you in the future.

During the two sessions, you will share your experience, and develop useful strategies as a foster caregiver and help your fellow caregivers do the same.
 

As an LGBTQIA+ caregiver have you felt that your Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) impacts your fostering journey?

In this supportive facilitated discussion group, you will get a chance to talk with other LGBTQIA+ kinship and foster caregivers about their experiences and share your own.  As a group, you will talk about useful tools and techniques for navigating common issues faced by LGBTIA+ caregivers and use these to develop strategies specifically for your family.

This single session facilitated discussion is specifically for kinship and foster caregivers who identify as LGBTQIA+ caring for children with any SOGIE.

This facilitated discussion group is a continuation of the seven-part “Parenting Teens” webinar. This group will continue to explore strategies for parenting teens with a history of trauma, developing healthy and supportive relationships with your teen, nurturing their identity, and understanding their challenging behaviors. You’ll work with other parents of teens to develop an action plan that takes into account your and your teen’s unique circumstances and proactively addresses the challenges you face. 

The CaRES team leads you through a reading and discussion of The Connected Child by Karyn Purvis. 

The Connected Child lays out the foundational principles for Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI), a therapeutic model that trains caregivers to provide effective support and treatment for at-risk children. 

We’ll dive into the meaning and topics of TBRI during the five weekly meetings, plus discuss new strategies for building connection and managing behaviors. 

The series includes...

• The connection between what children have experienced, their struggle with difficult behaviors, and how we can move forward with connection.
• Providing structure and a nurturing environment for children, which includes disarming fear and providing felt safety.
• Nurturing while addressing challenging behaviors and strategies to make life easier during those challenges.
• Brain chemistry and impact of trauma on the brain. 
• Addressing your own needs, healing, and self-care as caregivers.

You have thought long and hard about what it means for you to be a foster parent. You may even have ideas of how many and what types of children you would like to welcome into your home. While you wait for your license or first placement to arrive, this facilitated discussion will help you consider some of the needs in the fostering community and how you are suited to meet them. You’ll work toward developing a set of parameters for accepting your first placements to promote a good fit for both you and the child(ren) placed in your care.