We are pleased to announce four new webinars listed for online viewing. Three of the webinars have the option to obtain recertification credit and are geared towards those who are fostering/have adopted or those considering (if you watch all three, you can get 3.5 training hours!). The fourth webinar is for friends and family who support foster families.
Here’s a little of what’s in store.
Fostering Cultural Components
This webinar features two transracially adopted adults who now use their voices and experiences to help foster/adoptive families.
Check out this preview!
“For the past five to six years I’ve been helping families kind of merge that gap and just get ready to be comfortable being uncomfortable and having these tough conversations to support the children in their care.” Melissa Guida Richards
Fostering Biological Family Relationships
Encouraging and engaging with biological parents should be part of the foster care journey. This webinar shares stories, tips, and ideas. You’ll hear from Brenna Hunter, a bio mom who has been reunified with her children after addiction:
“I relapsed the day that they were removed. It felt like a survival mechanism at that point…
I’ll never be a perfect parent, but I’m a healthy parent now and that’s what matters…
Parents will remember the role you played, whether that was a positive one, an absent one, a negative one. That’s part of their story that they’ll remember forever and that the family will remember forever…
Don’t judge them. Treat them as humans. A lot of them are already judging themselves. You don’t need one more negative voice.”
And a foster mom, Kristin Reiss, who has been a huge encouragement to the bio families she has worked with:
“That’s what everyone in the case needs— is to be loved wholeheartedly.”
Fostering Former Foster Youth Voices
Hearing from people who have walked the journey of being in foster care is one of the best opportunities we have to understand the system better and what youth in care truly need. We are grateful to Michale and Melissa, former foster youth, who shared of their experiences with us.
Teaser video #1:
Teaser video #2:
Helping Foster Families
When we ask foster parents what they need most, they often share they wish other people understood more about foster care and how to support them in their role. This webinar goes through:
- The general overview of a foster care case
- What is helpful to foster parents
- What is language to use and not use
I encourage you to check out these jam-packed webinars which are filled with content that will help you in whatever your role in foster care may be.
Access the webinars HERE:
You can also go to FosterCon.org to view these webinars and other webinars previously released. If you enjoy this content, share it with others!
