Foster/Adopt Training Schedule
MUSKINGUM COUNTY
Muskingum County CSB, 205 North Seventh Street, Zanesville, OH 43701
To register, contact your licensing agency's foster care specialist. For Muskingum County CSB foster parents, contact either Lisa Wayt, Jennifer Johnston-Baker, or Donna Cole at 740.455.6710.
AUG 2012
Saturday, August 18, 2012 (9-12 noon; Carol Cockrill) Triggers: What Can Cause Adoption-Related Crisis?
The behavior, adjustment, and feelings of children are affected by both normal child development and by their experiences and perceptions. When their experience includes adoption, children will, of course, be affected, by their feelings about that history. It is often difficult for parents and professionals to determine which behaviors are related to normal child development (maturation) and which are related to adoption. Often, the answer lies in the triggers, identifiable situations or events that can create emotional upheaval for the adopted child or young adult. The purpose of this workshop is to help adoptive parents identify and prepare for common triggers of adoption-related distress. The workshop should assist parents in developing strategies for preventing or easing crises that can derail a child as he grows into a healthy adult.
Saturday, August 18, 2012 (1-4 p.m., Carol Cockrill) Lifebooks: Understanding the Past and Preparing for the Future
This is a fun, hands on workshop is designed for foster parents. The workshop covers the importance of lifebooks to children in foster care including the impact of lifebooks on a child's sense of continuity and sense of self. Important components to the lifebook are discussed as well as options for presentation of lifebook materials. Participants will also have an opportunity to work with a variety of lifebook tools and supplies and to develop lifebook pages for foster children in their care. Participants who work quickly may be able to complete two pages and are welcome to bring extra photos. Each foster parent attending should come prepared with at least two photos of a foster child. For couples attending together, each partner will be working independently and should have photos to work with. All other lifebook and scrapbooking supplies will be provided by the trainer.
SEPT 2012
Thursday, September 13, 2012, (6-9 p.m., David Zidar) Professional Boundaries This workshop provides caregivers the skills to improve communication with all stakeholders. It provides the caregiver with an understanding of the limits that they must put upon themselves in their helping relationships. This training provides actual case examples and posses ethical relationship situations. Both the new and more mature parents can benefit from this core skill of all professional helpers.
OCT 2012
Saturday, October 27, 2012, (9-4 p.m., Dr. Smiley) (FC 6 Hr) Going Back Home: Perspectives on Family Reunification Foster parents will explore the foster childs reunification with the birth family from several perspectives. Remembering that reunification is the primary permanency goal in classic foster care placement, participants will discuss the importance of family preservation for the child. They will grapple with the difficult process of saying good-bye to the child who has shared their heart and home; and ways to help the foster family deal with the loss of the child. They will consider what they can do to prepare the child for transition back to his/her family; and how foster parents, the caseworker, and the birth parent(s) can work together to assure a smooth and lasting transition back home. Participants will consider possible post-reunification roles they may be able to play in the life experience of the child. Special situations will be discussed including last minute changes in permanency plans when dreams of making an adoption plan are shattered by last minute, unexpected developments; and the professional and personal postures in foster care practice how to handle decisions to reunify that appear to be questionable, and more.
NOV 2012
Wednesday, November 7, 2012 (6-9 p.m., Anthony President) (FC 3 Hr) Turn Out Parental Burnout Stress may be unavoidable when parenting generation Y youth, but it can be managed. If caregivers can manage individual episodes of stress, parental burnout does not have to be a reality. Learn the weapons of mass stress reduction and start to beat burnout today through time management, conflict management, and easy to use stress relieving strategies.
DEC 2012
Saturday,December 1, 2012 (9-12 noon, Dr. Smiley) (FC 3 hr) Essential Parenting: Understanding and Managing Behavior in Children This workshop considers how those caring for children can become more intentional and less stressed; and less passive and/or reactive when working with children and their behaviors. Participants will consider five important factors contributing to healthier and happier family settings. They will explore the importance of establishing boundaries, structure and routines, and the correlation between good boundaries and improved child behavior. They will look at the clear differences in a discipline vs. punishment (abuse) approach to child behavior management. They will identify and understand their specific parenting style, and will consider three basic and essential core principles directly related to effective and successful care giving/parenting. Finally, eight practical techniques will be presented as tools to effectively manage child and adolescent behavior.
Saturday,December 1, 2012 (1-4 p.m., Dr. Smiley) Rebuilding Trust and Affectional Bonds: A Look at Insecure and Reactive Attachment Disorders Participants will understand how positive attachments are formed from the womb through childhood and how abuse, neglect, and/or separation from primary caregivers and familiar surroundings can negatively impact normal development. They will look at the importance of parent-child bonding to the development of a healthy and strong personality and how the loss of such connections impacts the childs sense of trust, security, and self-identity. The characteristics of children with trust disorders will be presented ranging from stressed attachment through Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD). The workshop will present ideas and activities that caregivers can use in the home to rebuild trust and affectional bonds with RAD children. Consideration will be given to how a parent can determine when it is time to seek professional intervention.
