As part of an overall effort to reform the continuum of care for foster, adoptive, and kinship children, the California Department of Social Services has contracted for the use of FosterParentCollege.com (FPC) to provide online training for its resource parents. With this contract, foster and adoptive parents working with agencies in California will have free access to all of our courses.
County and agency staff also have access to FosterParentCollege.com's administrative management system where they can register parents as users, assign courses, track user progress, and generate user reports. In addition, agency staff will be able to create pre-service and in-service clusters from the available training courses to address specific agency needs.
All agency staff in California are encouraged to contact Liz Brooks or Sarah Griffin for information about this partnership or to receive help regarding the registration process.
New Spanish Language Courses: Coming Soon!
Earlier this year, FosterParentCollege.com released Spanish language versions of all eleven of our preservice courses. This fall, we are working on two more! Continuing our work with professional translator, Omar Canals, our courses Trauma-Informed Parenting and Substance-Exposed Infants are both being translated into Spanish. Stay tuned to
fosterparentcollege.com or any of our social media channels to learn when these courses are available.
Understanding Birth Family Relationships
When a family adopts a child, it is a permanent lifetime commitment to that child. However, adopted children are also permanently connected to their biological family and have a need to understand that connection. In Understanding Birth Family Relationships, Dr. Audra Langley, Executive Director of the UCLA TIES for Families Program, explains how adoptive families can work together with their children to address this need.
Using interviews with parents, adopted children, and a birth mother, this course highlights the benefits of developing a relationship with birth family members and then explores ways to bridge a connection even with little to no direct contact.
This course is part of a series that has just entered the study phase. If you know of parents who would be interested in participating in a research study (earning $90 and free FPC training units), have them contact Alissa. Then follow us on social media to learn when this course is available.
Viewing on Mobile Devices
FosterParentCollege.com courses can now be viewed on iOS and Android devices via the free mobile web browser app, Puffin. The Puffin browser supports Flash-based content and uses cloud servers to speed up the workload. Some FosterParentCollege.com users have reported good experiences taking our online courses on their mobile devices with the Puffin web browser.
New Courses on the Horizon
To provide resource parents with the information they need to support the children in their care, Foster Parent College is continually creating new courses or updating existing ones. We have a number of courses currently in the works which should become available soon, including:
Supporting Normalcy
Parenting a Child Who Was Substance Exposed
Advanced Parenting Workshop on Aggression
Medical Issues in Foster Care: Physical Health
Medical Issues in Foster Care: Mental Health
3 Easy Ways to Get Your FPC Questions Answered
Need help managing your FosterParentCollege.com (FPC) account? Have a question about using the system but not sure where to turn? FPC has 3 easy ways to get your questions answered:
View video or print tutorials. These tutorials are designed specifically to help agency staff and administrators with the FPC management system. Log into your administrative home page and click “Tutorials for Agencies” under the Website Training & Help tab. Or go to:
fosterparentcollege.com/info/agencytutorial
Take one of our free weekly webinars. These webinars give an overview of our courses, introduce the FPC management system, and explain how to customize the system to fit agencies’ reporting needs. To see the schedule, log into your administrative home page, and under the Website Training & Help tab click “Webinars to Explore FPC,” or visit
fosterparentcollege.com/info/webinar-schedules
Contact our agency trainer. Sarah can answer specific questions or schedule a private webinar for your organization or agency. Contact her at Sarah@northwestmedia.com or 800-777-6636 x107.
Welcome, New Agencies
We extend a warm welcome to these new agencies which have recently joined
fosterparentcollege.com.
Arizona Department of Child Safety (statewide)
California Department of Social Services (statewide)
Child Abuse and Prevention Association
Children’s Network of Southwest Florida
Communities for People
Covenant Kids Manor Inc.
Independent Case Management Inc.
Northern Virginia Family Service
Olive Crest
Pressley Ridge
Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community
If your agency would like a customized flier to send to parents or agency staff, please contact Liz at Liz@northwestmedia.com or 800-777-6636.
About FosterParentCollege.com
Since 2004, FosterParentCollege.com has been providing online, interactive courses designed specifically for foster, adoptive, and kinship families. FPC offers over 55 courses (including 11 in Spanish) taught by nationally recognized experts. Most of our courses are trauma informed, and FPC has been recognized by the California Evidence- Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC). Staff at participating agencies have access to our administrative management system which lets them register parents as users, assign courses, distribute handouts, and track program progress. At the same time, resource parents have the flexibility to take courses at their own convenience and pace, wherever internet access is available.