Online Professional Training on Foster and Adoptive Care

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We propose developing and testing a series of online interactive multimedia training courses for caseworkers and mental health therapists on special issues relating to foster, adoptive, and kinship care. Providers in the child care system do not adequately understand the unique clinical characteristics of this population, nor how to provide treatment in a complex child care system. The courses are intended to help providers to better understand, diagnose, treat, and manage foster and adoptive children and to support the families who raise them. Providing these professionals with specialized training is a critical aspect of the overall reform process of the child care system. The proposed online training would dramatically improve practitioners' access to high quality and comprehensive training on these specialized topics. In Phase I, we will produce a course on Family Dynamics in Foster Care, Kinship Care, and Special Needs Adoption, the first of 12 courses. The course will be evaluated with a sample of caseworkers and mental health therapists, nationally.