Training Program (MAPP Foundations)

Training Program (MAPP Foundations)- Trauma Informed Partnering for Safety and Permanence: Model Approach to Partnership in Parenting

So . . . you think you already know how to be a parent? Despite the fact that no one knows it all, you have never parented children who have been abused and neglected. You were the oldest of several siblings growing up or you already have three children of your own. What this does prove is that you know that children come in many different shapes and sizes, as well as different personalities and can develop their own specific problems. This is why MAPP Foundations class is effective. Most of the children within "the system" have similar traits, situational difficulties, medical problems, and/or behavioral problems. With the knowledge you gain in MAPP Foundations class, you will be better prepared on how to deal with the traits you are not familiar with.

Your children, or the ones you feel you have gained your parenting experience from, have more than likely had at least one parental figure in their life that they could rely on, that fed them, that taught them right and wrong, and that guided them through the paths of life. Imagine for a moment that just ONE of those weren't available. No one to rely on. No food. No discipline. Would your children, or the ones you have been around for some time, even be the same child? Think about it.

An orientation, ten meetings, and a home study are all part of this training program designed to enable participants to develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will lead to successful foster and adoptive placements. All prospective foster and adoptive parents are required to participate in this training program in order to become licensed as foster parents and approved as adoptive parents.

MAPP Foundations class is a FUN, exciting experience that you will walk away feeling as if you learned something from every class. Don't get frustrated that you have to spend 30 hours in a classroom setting, but be glad there is a resource out there available to use and learn from.

Description of the Meetings and Curriculum

Meeting 1

Introduction to Fostering and Adoption
This meeting acquaints leaders and participants with the MAPP Program and each other and explains the process of becoming a foster or adoptive parent and the legal foundation for child welfare services. With a focus on safety, well-being, and permanence, this meeting will introduce you by video to several children and parents who have been involved with foster care and adoption. During Meeting 1, every family receives a copy of a Profile to fill out. This Profile gives prospective foster and adoptive families an opportunity to describe themselves in their own words. The Profile becomes part of the information used to help make a decision about fostering or adopting. It also becomes part of the information kept by the agency to help children, birth families, and child welfare workers get to know the foster or adoptive family better.

Meeting 2

Where the MAPP Leads: A Partnership Experience
This meeting provides an overview of a foster care and adoption experience from the perspectives of clients (children and parents), foster parents, adoptive parents, and child welfare workers. The meeting will highlight case examples of children and their families to help participants consider the safety, well-being, and permanence needs of children who have been abused, neglected, or maltreated. Family consultations are scheduled after Meeting 2. The consultation meetings occur in the homes of prospective foster and adoptive families. They are designed to help the families and leaders jointly assess strengths and needs in a family setting. All family members participate, and every family has at least two family consultations during the decision-making and learning process. During the family consultation, the family and the leader will agree upon a Partnership Development Plan, which states who will do specific tasks and when the tasks will be completed, in order to meet one or more need in the preparation, decision-making, and mutual selection process.

Meeting 3

Trauma and Brain Science
This meeting provides an overview of how trauma affects families and children, as well as the brain. The good news is that brains can repair themselves through consistently meeting needs and developing trust.

Meeting 4

Losses and Gains – Building Resilience
This meeting explores the impacts of separation on the growth and development of children, as well as the impact of foster care and adoptive placement on the emotions and behaviors of children and parents. We will examine how personal losses (death, divorce, infertility, children leaving home) and difficult life experiences affect the success of adoptive and foster parents. This meeting emphasizes the partnership roles of foster parents, adoptive parents, and social workers in turning separation losses into gains.

Meeting 5

Partnering to Build and Maintain Attachments
This meeting explores the subject of attachment and child development. We will focus on how attachments are formed and the special needs of children in foster care and adoption (especially in the areas of building self-concept and appropriate behavior). This meeting discusses the partnership roles of foster parents, adoptive parents, and child welfare workers in helping children form new attachments.

Meeting 6

Understanding the Needs Behind Behaviors
This meeting highlights techniques for managing behavior with an emphasis on alternatives to physical punishment. Topics include special issues related to discipline for children who have been physically or sexually abused or neglected. Techniques to be discussed include being a “behavior detective,” reinforcement, time out, mutual problem-solving, structuring and setting limits, negotiating, and contracting. This meeting emphasizes the partnership among foster parents, adoptive parents, and child welfare workers.

Meeting 7

Maintaining Connections
This meeting explores the importance of helping children in care preserve and strengthen their sense of self and personal ties. We will look at how a child’s experience and background can influence who they are and the relationships they risk losing when they enter care.

Meeting 8

Gains and Losses – Fostering Toward Permanence
This meeting opens with building an understanding on why visits and contacts with birth families and previous foster families are important. It also highlights family reunification as the primary case-planning goal, as well as alternatives like foster care, adoption, and independent living. We will examine disruption and its impact on children, families, and agency staff. This meeting also focuses on the partnership role of child welfare workers, foster parents, and adoptive parents in helping children move home, into an adoptive home, or into independent living.

Meeting 9

Perspectives and New Experiences in Learning (Panel)
This meeting continues examining the impact of fostering and adopting on families and builds skills for shared parenting. A special children’s group will take part in this meeting, which is designed especially for children and youth from families who are thinking about becoming foster or adoptive families.

Meeting 10

Endings and Beginnings
The important tasks of this meeting will be to assess group members’ strengths and needs as foster parents or adoptive parents. We will include time to say goodbye (the ending). As the preparation/mutual selection process comes to an end, so begins the transition into becoming a foster family or adoptive family (the beginning).

After the last meeting is a final Family Consultation during which the leader and the parents agree about the family’s future role as a foster family, as an adoptive family, or as another kind of child welfare advocate. A Professional Development Plan, created together by the leader and the parents, provides direction for support of the family during the next six months of partnership in the child welfare program.

MAPP Training Schedule

The MAPP Foundations class is a 30-hour training program held twice a week from 6:00 - 9:00 pm. Each class is held at the Department of Social Services, 741 North Highland Avenue in Winston-Salem, NC 27101.

All classes are held on Monday and Thursday nights from 6:00 - 9:00 pm unless otherwise noted.