Families for Teens
Intended Audience
- Child Welfare Workers
- Child Welfare Supervisors
Targeted Age Group(s)
- 10-12
- 13-17
- 18 or older
QIC-EY Engagement Model Components (i) The engagement model components were identified through the QIC-EY Environmental Scan as critical to the support of youth engagement in the attainment of permanence.
- Engage Specialized Staff
- Support Youth Empowerment
- Prioritize Legal, Relational and Cultural Permanence
Description
The Families for Teens program, created by Fostering Change for Children (FCFC), is a training-and-coaching program intended to address some of the questions around and challenges to achieving permanency for older youth in foster care. Families for Teens training and coaching will teach and reinforce four basic principles of older-youth permanency: using “another planned permanent living arrangement” (APPLA) as a goal, addressing challenges and barriers to youth permanency, “unpacking the no” with youth, and identifying and securing a permanent family. Themes include innovative and novel approaches and tools to engage youth and to challenge the way that staff think about methods used to achieve permanency.
Implementation Considerations
Families for Teens consists of two components — the training series and ongoing coaching. The three-part, workshop series is designed for child welfare professionals at all levels, including foster care caseworkers, permanency specialists, foster care supervisors and foster care directors. The series can be delivered either via three 2-hour, virtual sessions or via three 3-hour, in-person sessions. Sessions are scheduled approximately one month apart. Ongoing coaching is delivered with a minimum of three participants and a maximum of six participants per coaching group. There is a minimum of six coaching sessions of 1-2 hours each, scheduled one month apart. A request for more information can be submitted through the FCFC website.
