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Indiana Contracts for FosterParentCollege.com® Training

July 5, 2011

Eugene, OR — The state of Indiana has contracted with Northwest Media, Inc., to provide FosterParentCollege.com training to its foster and adoptive parents. The two-year contract went into effect July 1 and is the result of a request for proposals process.

Two primary factors influenced the state's decision to adopt an online training component, according to Cassandra A. Porter, JD, Assistant Deputy Director of Staff Development, Indiana Department of Child Services.

“We'll still have classroom, in-person training, but honestly we are really managing the resources we have,” said Porter. “We have a finite amount of people and a finite amount of time so we did not want our staff spending so much time on the road to get to people and provide training.”

“The other component is we realized we cannot be all things to all people,”" she continued. “We cannot be the resource they need for every child in their care … this is a great way to meet a need right now for training on a specific behavior challenge.”

According to the agreement, all prospective foster and adoptive parents will be required to take Child Abuse & Neglect on FosterParentCollege.com as part of their pre-service training.

In-service training requirements include 15 hours annually for parents with a basic license; of those hours, 4 will be in the form of FosterParentCollege.com classes targeted to the unique needs of individual families.

There are 3,000 foster parent licenses in Indiana. Many licenses are issued to couples, so the actual number of foster parents is even higher.

FosterParentCollege.com provides interactive online training for foster, adoptive and kinship parents. There are 29 courses available at this time. Titles include Substance-Exposed Infants, Child Abuse and Neglect, Grief and Loss in the Care System, Culturally Competent Parenting, and Child Safety and Supervision.

FosterParentCollege.com is:

  • Rated by the California Evidence-based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare
  • Endorsed by the Foster Family-based Treatment Association and the Canadian Foster Family Association
  • Approved by NASW, CASA and the National Adoption Center.

For more information about this article, contact us at fosterparentcollege.com. Click here to visit fosterparentcollege.com.