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This 4-hour focused topic training for caregivers, social workers and supervisors teaches participants to understand the complexity of caring for African American and biracial hair and skin.  Participants will gain skills and knowledge to be culturally responsive to the needs of the children/youth in their care.  The provider will demonstrate how to properly wash, dry and style (including braiding) for African American children and youth in their care.  The provider will give resource tools on how participants get the appropriate hair and skin products for children/youth.  The participants will gain knowledge, skills and tools to utilize with the children/youth in their care.  Participants will learn how to seek necessary resources and support to promote a healthy self-concept for the children/youth in their care.

SAKS Salon Owners – Theresa Johnson & Shelly Gaines are Washington State Board Licensed Cosmetologists with over 27 years of experience.  They are Avalon Hair Technicians with experience as trainers for of all products and application to all types of hair.  They have advanced training including:  Dudley’s University, Mizani Certified, Affirm, KMS, John Paul Mitchel and Nioen Hair Care Systems, and specializing in Natural Haircare, biracial haircare and African American hair and skin care.

This 6 hour focused topic training for caregivers provides an in-depth exploration of Drug Impacted Infants and Toddlers. The training focuses on how to identify and address the impacts drugs have on infants and toddlers; how to recognize symptoms; set up a successful environment and work together with the team in providing care for the child. The takeaway from this training is feeling empowered to care for a drug impacted Infant as they grow through infancy, toddler and preschool

This 6 hour focused training for caregivers provides a foundation for understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) and challenging or escalating behavior among children in out-of-home care.  The training provides specific behavior management skills for caregivers to deescalate and manage behavior including trauma informed caregiving, authoritative parenting, therapeutic environments, engagement, and more.  

This workshop will give caregivers practical tools to help manage behaviors such as:

• Oppositional defiance
• Property damage and juvenile delinquency
• Attention deficit hyperactivity
• Running away
• Power struggles and escalated tantrums
• Verbal and physical aggression

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 click this link to read more about general guidelines for online trainings to make sure it is a good fit for you, and to register for your online training.

If you prefer to take the course in a classroom (conducted at various locations around the state) please continue reading and register below.

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

Each participant must register separately: if a couple plans to attend together, each member must register individually.

CCT Classroom Version

The 24-hour Caregiver Core Training is made up of eight sessions (each three hours long) and a field experience.

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 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.

The handouts that you need in class will be provided to you. Here are the handouts you will receive in class if you need them for future reference.

Here is the complete Participant Manual with resources and information. Feel free to save it to refer back to or to print it. If you do not have printer access and want a printed copy, let your trainer know that you will need a copy printed for you.

You have one year to complete the course including the online training, and field experience. 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.

Here are some testimonials from potential caregivers who completed Caregiver Core Training:

"I love the passion and the willingness of the trainers to share their stories. It helps to have them give so many examples and answer questions."

"I am a foster home licensor at a CPA in the community. I was also a CFWS social worker for 3 years. I was SO pleasantly surprised by how great this training was. Even though I knew most of the information, the trainers held my attention and gave real-life examples of the concepts. There is SO much to teach about working in child welfare, and for the most part, the trainings hit the highlights."

"This is, by far and away the best training course I have ever taken. The documentation was well thought out and easy to understand. Even though I usually hate them, the activities were fun! I really wish that they could take this on the road to local schools, businesses, non-profits, etc."

"This was by far one of the best training sessions I have had the privilege of attending in a long time. The course trainers did a fantastic job with knowledge and question answering. Most of this class should be taught to teachers in the education field. The trainer did a fantastic job presenting the topics and information and wanted feedback during the class."

"The knowledge level of the presenters was outstanding and their presentation skills were great.  They were interesting to listen to and made the information relevant. I began my classes in Wenatchee and then finished in Ellensburg. While the presenters had their own styles, the above remained true for all of them."

"I really appreciated the personal stories of the former foster youth and birth parents who had been involved in the system.  Their perspectives were important to hear.  Thank you for including them."

"I appreciated having the views and experiences of each of the trainers to help with understanding the needs I will have to meet for the children in my care."

This 2 hour Coaching Session for Caregivers builds upon information contained in Caregivers Core Training (CCT) and provides in-depth training around the need for visitation from the child’s perspective, the caregiver’s role in visitation, and how caregivers can support the child to help visitation to be as successful as possible. Caregivers will more deeply understand the need to support children’s relationships with birth families and gain skills to successfully team with others involved in the child’s visitation. 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 address a caregiver's specific needs and build specific skills at their convenience. Just contact us to request a time for session to be scheduled.

This 6-hour in-service training for caregivers provides a foundation for caregiving and behavior management for children in out-of-home care who struggle with physically aggressive behaviors.  Participants will explore the potential impacts of trauma and maltreatment on attachment, behavior and development as well as the risk factors for violent behavior in children.  Participants will closely review the newest Washington Administrative Code (WAC) related to discipline and will contrast principles of positive discipline and punishment. Skill building will focus on creating a plan to prevent a crisis; the various forms aggression may take and how to look for signs of when a child is agitated or escalating; how to intervene during a crisis; and how to manage ongoing or explosive aggressive behaviors via teaching coping skills and Collaborative Problem Solving.  Local resources and supports for the youth as well as the caregiver are discussed.

Additional Resources

In addition to the 6-hour, in-person training, you can also watch a 1-hour video, Working with Children Exhibiting Physically Aggressive Behaviors, with information to help manage a child who is physically acting out in your home, and to help you create a safe and nurturing environment.

This 3-hour in-service training will provide foster parents, caregivers, relatives and fictive kin with information about DLR/CPS and how DLR/CPS works with caregivers and the community to ensure child safety.  Participants will learn about mandated reporting, definitions and differences between allegations of abuse and/or neglect and licensing infractions, the flow of the investigative process when allegations are received, outcomes of investigations, and how caregivers can take steps to protect themselves in the process.

Registration is required. Need help? Call 1-866-577-1915 or email help@acwe.on.spiceworks.com
Please include your name, phone number or email, and the course title in your request for assistance.

Inscribirse para asistir a la clase es necesario.Call 1-866-577-1915 or email help@acwe.on.spiceworks.com
Si necesita ayuda favor de llamar al 1-866-577-1915 o mandar un correo electrónico a help@acwe.on.spiceworks.com l.

This 6-hour focused topic training for caregivers covers how to recognize and support disordered eating and recovery from disordered eating.  Participants will learn when and how to seek professional help, feeding practices to encourage a positive eating environment for all ages, and reasons that hoarding occurs and how to respond to it.

Meaghan Ormsby, MS, RD is a Registered Dietitian with 15 years of experience treating disordered eating and child feeding issues. She sees male and female clients of all ages in her private practice in Edmonds, WA. Her graduate thesis focused on the benefits of a positive relationship with food related to healthy habits and sustained healthy eating practices.  She has experience with food insecurity as a respite foster care provider and an adoptive mother. Meaghan is also a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor.

• Form stronger friendships with peers
• Have higher self esteem
• Regulate their moods more easily
• Be more successful in their problem solving skills
• Bounce back from emotional events more quickly
• Get sick less often

This course is designed to help foster parents and caregivers gain a better understanding of our interaction with trauma and adversity in the children we serve.  

This workshop covers:  

• The healing power of living true to ourselves  
• Recognizing wounds, burdens and painful memories in ourselves and our children
• Understanding compassion fatigue in foster parents and caregivers  
• Finding fulfillment in Self-led parenting
• Building cooperative partnerships with you, your community and the children you serve

All children deserve the best start in life and new scientific discoveries deepen our understanding of how to create the best environments for children. The team at I-LABS creates new and effective ways to bridge the gap between the science and the practice of learning by disseminating the latest science of child development. Our team shares the latest scientific discoveries in relevant and actionable ways with those who can best put it into practice: early learning professionals, parents, and policymakers. Partners use cutting-edge research to create evidence-based policies, practices, and programs that grow the next generation of lifelong learners.

This 1 hour class covers the following:

• How brains are built. An enormous amount of brain development occurs in the first five years.
• Early childhood experiences shape the physical development of the brain.
• The strength of connections formed in a child’s brain depends, to a certain extent, on the frequencies of experiences they have in their lives.

All children deserve the best start in life and new scientific discoveries deepen our understanding of how to create the best environments for children. The team at I-LABS creates new and effective ways to bridge the gap between the science and the practice of learning by disseminating the latest science of child development. Our team shares the latest scientific discoveries in relevant and actionable ways with those who can best put it into practice: early learning professionals, parents, and policymakers. Partners use cutting-edge research to create evidence-based policies, practices, and programs that grow the next generation of lifelong learners.

This hour long class covers the following key points:

• From the first day of life, children watch others and imitate their actions to learn about the physical world and their culture.
• As they grow older, they can remember actions for longer (deferred imitation), and use them to navigate situations (generalizations).
• Children’s brains seem ready to imitate-studies have found similar changes in infants’ brain activity whether they are doing an activity or just watching it.

All children deserve the best start in life and new scientific discoveries deepen our understanding of how to create the best environments for children. The team at I-LABS creates new and effective ways to bridge the gap between the science and the practice of learning by disseminating the latest science of child development. Our team shares the latest scientific discoveries in relevant and actionable ways with those who can best put it into practice: early learning professionals, parents, and policymakers. Partners use cutting-edge research to create evidence-based policies, practices, and programs that grow the next generation of lifelong learners.

This hour long class covers the following points:

• Language learning begins before birth. A young brain is particularly ready to learn language.
• When listening to language, infants engage in statistical learning. This helps them become sensitive to the specific sounds of their native language.
• Face-to-face interactions are critical for language learning. In the first year of life, social interactions expose children to language. They also prepare the infant brain for speaking.

All children deserve the best start in life and new scientific discoveries deepen our understanding of how to create the best environments for children. The team at I-LABS creates new and effective ways to bridge the gap between the science and the practice of learning by disseminating the latest science of child development. Our team shares the latest scientific discoveries in relevant and actionable ways with those who can best put it into practice: early learning professionals, parents, and policymakers. Partners use cutting-edge research to create evidence-based policies, practices, and programs that grow the next generation of lifelong learners.

This hour long class covers the following points:

• Attachment is a dyadic relationship. This means that an attachment relationship depends on both the adult and the child.
• Attachment security is on a continuum. Children’s attachment behavior can be more or less secure. Their behavior depends on the caregiving they receive.
• A child is more likely to form a secure attachment when her caregiver provides consistent and sensitive care.

All children deserve the best start in life and new scientific discoveries deepen our understanding of how to create the best environments for children. The team at I-LABS creates new and effective ways to bridge the gap between the science and the practice of learning by disseminating the latest science of child development. Our team shares the latest scientific discoveries in relevant and actionable ways with those who can best put it into practice: early learning professionals, parents, and policymakers. Partners use cutting-edge research to create evidence-based policies, practices, and programs that grow the next generation of lifelong learners.

This hour long class covers the following points:

• Babies begin making vowel-like sounds soon after birth. They soon add consonant sounds. Then they transition to syllables, words, and finally sentences. This pattern is similar across different cultures and languages.
• Children use different strategies to learn words and word combinations. During the process of learning, they sometimes make errors in word or sentence use. As they hear more language, their use of words and sentences becomes more adult-like.
• Language learning begins at birth! Those children who hear more language and experience more high quality interactions tend to produce more words and longer sentences.

All children deserve the best start in life and new scientific discoveries deepen our understanding of how to create the best environments for children. The team at I-LABS creates new and effective ways to bridge the gap between the science and the practice of learning by disseminating the latest science of child development. Our team shares the latest scientific discoveries in relevant and actionable ways with those who can best put it into practice: early learning professionals, parents, and policymakers. Partners use cutting-edge research to create evidence-based policies, practices, and programs that grow the next generation of lifelong learners.

This hour long class covers the following points:

• Babies are born with different temperaments or ways they approach everyday events and challenges. Biology helps determine temperament, but environment and experiences also influence a child’s temperament and development.
• Temperament consists of three dimensions: positive reactivity; negative reactivity; and attention, soothability, and regulation. Each dimension is a continuum, meaning a child can show more or less of a behavior.
• You cannot change a child’s temperament, but you can adapt your behavior and environment to meet the child’s needs. This is creating goodness of fit between your expectations and a child’s temperament.

All children deserve the best start in life and new scientific discoveries deepen our understanding of how to create the best environments for children. The team at I-LABS creates new and effective ways to bridge the gap between the science and the practice of learning by disseminating the latest science of child development. Our team shares the latest scientific discoveries in relevant and actionable ways with those who can best put it into practice: early learning professionals, parents, and policymakers. Partners use cutting-edge research to create evidence-based policies, practices, and programs that grow the next generation of lifelong learners.

This hour long class covers the following points:

• Race is meaningful in our social world and racism still exists today.
• Our actions matter - what parents do – or don’t do – is a strong indicator of children’s attitudes about race.
• Our words matter too! Research suggests that not talking about race with kids increases racist thinking and racism. But talking about race can be one of the best ways to counteract racism.
• Kids are aware of race, form racial identities and observe and integrate ideas about race from those around them and reflect it in their own attitudes and behaviors.
• Preventative and Reactionary ‘race chats’ are an effective way to discuss race and racism with children. These conversations with evolve and change over time, as a child grows.
• We do not need to have all the answers to have effective ‘race chats’ with children. We just need to be open, and be able to offer a safe space to talk.

All children deserve the best start in life and new scientific discoveries deepen our understanding of how to create the best environments for children. The team at I-LABS creates new and effective ways to bridge the gap between the science and the practice of learning by disseminating the latest science of child development. Our team shares the latest scientific discoveries in relevant and actionable ways with those who can best put it into practice: early learning professionals, parents, and policymakers. Partners use cutting-edge research to create evidence-based policies, practices, and programs that grow the next generation of lifelong learners.

This hour long class covers the following points:

• Spoken language skills serve as the foundation for literacy development. Literacy involves years of systematic instruction and practice.
• Children may enter kindergarten with a range of pre-literacy skills. It is important for teachers to provide a rich literacy environment for all children. Reading to and with children is a great way to boost pre-literacy skills.
• The brain is not born to read. With practice, our brains learn to recognize words, match words with sounds, and associate those words with meaning.
• Some people have more difficulty learning to read than others. But this does not mean that they won’t ever learn how or that they are less intelligent. Many different factors contribute to a child’s pre-literacy skills.

All children deserve the best start in life and new scientific discoveries deepen our understanding of how to create the best environments for children. The team at I-LABS creates new and effective ways to bridge the gap between the science and the practice of learning by disseminating the latest science of child development. Our team shares the latest scientific discoveries in relevant and actionable ways with those who can best put it into practice: early learning professionals, parents, and policymakers. Partners use cutting-edge research to create evidence-based policies, practices, and programs that grow the next generation of lifelong learners.

This hour long class covers the following points:

• In the first year of life, babies already start to make predictions about what things are causes and what are effects.  By the time they are in preschool, children are proficient causal learners, ready to engage in and learn from causal lessons.
• Children of all ages learn how to make things happen on their own from watching what other people do.  They do this even if the people they are watching make mistakes or things don’t work perfectly.
• Cause-and-effect relations also occur between living things. Figuring out how to cause people to change their behavior is important for children’s social development.  
• Lessons about cause-and-effect happen at home and in the classroom all the time, with little or no need for special tools, toys, or preparation.

All children deserve the best start in life and new scientific discoveries deepen our understanding of how to create the best environments for children. The Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences at the University of Washington (I-LABS) is an interdisciplinary center dedicated to discovering the fundamental principles of human learning, with a special emphasis on early learning and brain development.

The Alliance for Child Welfare Excellence is excited to partner with the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences in order to offer the I-LABS online training modules to caregivers for training credit. These I-LABS are available in Spanish, Somali, Vietnamese, or English.

Each I-LAB module explores a particular topic in child development, such as brain development, language acquisition, or imitation. Modules share evidence-based information about how young children learn. The modules are useful for understanding everyday interactions with children and for informing systems-level programs and policies.

Currently there are 18 online modules ranging from 20-25 minutes and covering a variety of relevant topics such as a child’s first days, early interactions, learning, emotions, language, attachment, temperament, race and equality, music, literacy and more.

• Know the legal definition of commercial sexual exploitation of children
• Understand how commercial sexual exploitation might happen to a youth
• Understand how experiencing commercial sexual exploitation may impact a youth
• Be able to spot signs that youth are at risk for becoming (or are) commercially sexually exploited
• Have strategies for caring for youth who are at risk for becoming (or have been) commercially sexually exploited

Participants learn about infant communication, safe sleep environments, and the shaken baby syndrome to better care for infants placed in their homes.  Equipped with the information, participants are able to be responsive and provide safe care to the infant.  Participants will become familiar with the Period of Purple Crying as a strategy to help infants in their foster home.

An Introduction to Positive Discipline is a 2-hour in-service level training for foster, kinship and suitable adult caregivers.  This introductory training will help caregivers learn the basic parenting approach of the Positive Discipline model by providing several group activities and discussions based in real life scenarios.  Positive Discipline focuses on teaching valuable social and life skills to children instead of using any form of punishment, rewards, praise, permissiveness or logical consequences.  Positive Discipline focuses on helping participants 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.

In addition to this introductory course, the Alliance invites caregivers to attend the full 15-hour Parenting the Positive Discipline Way training series.

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.

Registration is required.Need help? Call 1-866-577-1915 or email help@acwe.on.spiceworks.com
Please include your name, phone number or email, and the course title in your request for assistance.

Inscribirse para asistir a la clase es necesario.Si necesita ayuda favor de llamar al 1-866-577-1915 o mandar un correo electrónico a help@acwe.on.spiceworks.com
Por favor incluya su nombre, número de teléfono o dirección de su correo electrónico y agregue el nombre de la clase por la que está solicitando ayuda.

This 3-hour In-Service level training provides Caregivers with an introduction to the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), tribal sovereignty and the impacts on foster parenting.  The Indian Child Welfare Act obliges child welfare agencies and caregivers to take certain steps to protect and preserve the rights and cultural and familial connections of children covered by the act.  For non-Federally recognized tribes (and in other circumstances), Washington State enacted policy related to Local Indian Child Welfare Advisory Committees (LICWACs) to staff tribal cases and these impacts and supports are also discussed.  This training explores the legal, historical, and social biases which have impacted and continue to have a disproportionate impact on Native American children and families.  Caregivers will review basic information and skills needed to work with families and children who are covered under ICWA and LICWAC.  The State of Washington’s legal and policy guidelines around placement and permanency preferences for children covered by ICWA and LICWAC are explored, as well as the various manners in which Tribes can take jurisdiction or chose to otherwise be involved in Child Welfare cases.  Skills and resources are also discussed to help caregivers support and develop a child’s cultural identity and tribal connection.

The financial, legal, and emotional issues of raising a relative’s child can be challenging. Services and support when raising a relative’s child can be a lifesaver.  Kinship caregiving in all of its forms is becoming increasingly common.  Recent WA State child welfare data (Partners for Our Children-1/1/2015)   show that 41 percent of children in out of home care are living with a relative.  Many more children are living with relatives or other close family friends informally, without the ongoing supervision of the state’s foster care system. 

Often kinship caregivers do not access the benefits which are available to them. This class will address the issues that Kinship Caregivers struggle with most:

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

This 2.5 hour in-service 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.

The financial, legal, and emotional issues of raising a relative’s child can be challenging. Services and support when raising a relative’s child can be a lifesaver.  Kinship caregiving in all of its forms is becoming increasingly common.  Recent WA State child welfare data (Partners for Our Children-1/1/2015)   show that 41 percent of children in out of home care are living with a relative.  Many more children are living with relatives or other close family friends informally, without the ongoing supervision of the state’s foster care system. 

Often kinship caregivers do not access the benefits which are available to them. This class will address the issues that Kinship Caregivers struggle with most:

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

This 90 minute webinar 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.

Participants in this e-learning will learn about the role of mandatory reporters in identifying possible child abuse and neglect, and in reporting these concerns. The training reviews possible indicators of child abuse and neglect, and common situations that cause mandatory reporters to call in a report. Participants will consider the impact of biases on reporting possible child abuse and neglect, and learn about the problem of racial disproportionality in our state’s child welfare system. The federal requirement that Indian heritage and affiliation with Federally recognized tribes must be identified is also explained. Lastly, the training reviews how to contact Children’s Administration to make a report, what information to have available, and what happens once a report has been made are also addressed.

This workshop will provide foster parents, caregivers, relatives and fictive kin with information to assist them in navigating the system, managing the investigative process of allegations, but more importantly, learn ways to minimize the risks of allegations.

• Share ways to minimize the risk of an allegation.
• Learn how the investigative process works.
• Review common practices and procedures.
• Explore and practice documentation and reporting.
• Discuss how best to survive the allegation process.

This training will cover:

• Procedures and paperwork
• Miscellaneous information
• Ways to minimize the risk of an allegation
• Documentation and reporting
• How best to survive the allegation process