Resource Family Training Opportunities Provided by Our Partners
We encourage all of our Families and Friends to take a moment to review our partners listed below and browse through the variety of training opportunities available to you. Once you select a class to take, please follow the instructions provided to you so that you are correctly enrolled.
QPI is an approach to improving the quality of fostering and increasing the number of foster families by using child development research, branding and marketing principles and adult learning strategies. QPI is based on two premises:
- Providing effective parenting is one of the most important functions of the child welfare system;
- By failing to clearly identify, articulate and support expectations for foster parents, the child welfare agency has undermined not only its ability to recruit and retain foster parents, but also the ability of parents to provide excellent parenting to children in their care.
What is QPI? Visit: qpicalifornia.org
CALM offers a variety of groups that support Resource Parents, parents in the Family Maintenance program, and parents in the Family Reunification program.
The Trauma Informed Parenting Support Groups (TIPG), especially, support Resource Parents in identifying the impacts of trauma and provide practical skills on how to manage concerning behaviors.
Foster & Kinship Care Education
The Foster and Kinship Care Education (FKCE) Program is a statewide program that provides a wide range of classroom topics variety of workshop/training programs designed to support Resource, Kinship and Adoptive Parents meet the educational, emotional, behavioral, and developmental needs of children and youth in out-of-home care. The FKCE also provides specialized training for relative caregivers, including D-Rate (Severely Emotionally Disturbed), F-Rate (Medically Fragile), Basic, and In-service training.
All FKCE classes and programs are offered FREE of charge for all Resource, Kinship and Adoptive Families in Santa Barbara County.
FKCE partners include: Allan Hancock College, Cuesta College and Santa Barbara City College.
Youth Mental Health First Aid is a 1-day training designed to equip educators, family members, and caregivers with the skills and knowledge to identify, understand, and respond to the signs or risk factors of mental health challenges and substance use disorders in youth. View a calendar of FREE upcoming classes and register at https://bethedifferencesb.org/
YouthWell focuses on education with monthly workshops for youth, parents, and those working with youth, in order to eliminate stigma, open up conversations about teen mental health today and connect families to resources. Workshops are designed to empower parents and youth with a strength-based approach providing tools that promote connection, wellness, and self-care in order to build resilience so that we are all better equipped to cope with stress and challenging situations.
YouthWell provides an online Youth & Family Mental Health and Wellness Resource Directory for Santa Barbara County that includes services, programs, crisis resources, therapists, parent and youth support groups, and more at youthwell.org/resources.
RFASST aims to increase retention of foster parents through dedicated support to families, to educate students about the needs of the community, to increase empathy, and to encourage students to become future resource parents themselves.
We host a series of Meet Ups, where we invite resource families to enjoy various free events, such as Lane Farms, Ice in Paradise, and MOXI, with the intention of providing relational opportunities between the students and foster youth that may grow into sustained support for resource families. In conjunction with CWS, we host Parents’ Night Out, where resource families may drop off their children to play while the parents have time to reconnect or rest.
