Training & Resources
Training & Resources
Humanity, Balance, Honesty, Inclusion, Teamwork
Building Bridges
Our 8 Week Foster Parent Training
Each applicant will need to complete 27 Training Hours. 24 hours are completed through the Building Bridges Training offered by our foster care team. The remaining hours will be completed through individual training with your Placement Resource Manager. This curriculum is mandated by the State and covers topics they have identified as necessary information for foster care providers to have.
You can start attending the training even if you haven’t made the decision yet whether or not you would like to become a foster parent. Many people attend a few training sessions in order to give them more information prior to making their decision.
Mesa County’s foster, kinship, and adoptive care training program is designed to prepare all providers and applicants to care for children placed through the child welfare division of the Department of Human Services. The program meets all state requirements for persons to become either kinship caregivers or certified foster and adoptive caregivers.
You do not have to start with Session 1, you can begin with any session as long as you complete all 8 sessions. This is an overview of the Building Bridges Foster Parent Training:
Training Topics:
Session 1 – Understanding Foster Care
Session 2 – Foster Care Rules and Regulations
Session 3 – Families Helping Families
Session 4 – Separation, Loss and Attachment
Session 5 – Child Development
Session 6 – Understanding Abuse & Neglect
Session 7 – Disciplining High-Risk Children
Session 8 – Case Management & Court
Please click here if you would like to receive a training schedule.
Websites
Colorado State Foster Parent Association
Colorado Foster Care and Adoption
Child Welfare Foster Parent Training Site
Foster Parent College Online Training
Facebook Group
Mesa County Foster Care Parents
Newsletter
The Foster Care of Mesa County e-Newsletter
Recommended Reading
Books for Parents:
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"A Child's Journey Through Placement" by Vera I. Fahlberg
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"From Toddlers to Teens, 1001 solutions for Everyday parenting problems" by Jane Nelson, Lynn Lott, and Glenn Stephen
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"Ghosts from the Nursery" by Robin Karr-Morse and Meredith Wiley
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"Fostering Changes" by Richard Delaney
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"How it Feels to be Adopted" by Jill Krementz
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"Creative Interventions for Troubled Children and More Creative Interventions for Troubled Children" by Liana Lowenstein
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"Another Place at the Table" by Kathy Harrison
Books for Kids:
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"Transforming the Difficult Child: The Nurtured Heart Approach" by Howard Glasser
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"A Very Touching Book" by Jan Hindman and Tom Novak
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"A Volcano In My Tummy: Helping Children to Handle Anger" by Eliane Whitehouse and Warwick Pudney
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"Maybe Days" by Jennifer Wilgocki, Marcia Kahn Wright, and Alissa Imre Geis
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"Please Tell" by Jessie Ottenweller
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"A Terrible Thing Happened- A story for children who have witnessed violence or trauma" by Margaret M. Holmes, Sasha J. Mudlaff, and Cary Pillo
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"Billy Had To Move: A Foster Care Story" by Theresa Ann Fraser and Alex Walton
