Ongoing Caregiver Training
Resource families(formerly named foster caregivers) are required by the State of Ohio to complete 30 hours of training every two years to maintain their foster care license. Treatment resource families are required to complete 45 hours. The curriculum is developed in accordance with the caregiver’s Individual Training Needs Assessment (ITNA) and Individual Development Plan (IDP).
Registration Instructions:
If you are a resource family through LCCS, enroll yourself in training sessions through CAPS LMS:
Should you need assistance, please contact Kandi Bennett-Kanu at 419-213-3505 or by e-mail [email protected]
If you are a resource family through another agency, or if you are a daycare provider for LCCS, you will NOT be in CAPS LMS. Please contact Mrs. Bennett-Kanu to register as a guest.
~ Training Schedule ~
Class will be closed to anyone arriving more than fifteen (15) minutes late.
AHA Pediatric HeartSaver First Aid and CPR Without Skills Testing
Saturday, May 4, 2024 | 9:00 am – 4:00 pm**
Ryan Hennessey, Instructor
Locator #9477
6 Credit Hours
This course utilizes the American Heart Association Pediatric First Aid and CPR course materials but does not include skills testing. The participant receives a comprehensive overview of first aid basics for children, as well as CPR and AED use for all ages. **Please note that there will be a 2 hour(2pm-4pm) mandatory hands-on skills testing for Lucas County Children Services licensed caregivers only. For caregivers from other counties who wish to seek certification can attend this portion for a fee, payable to the trainer.
* VIRTUAL*
Using Positive Psychology and Clinical Resilience, Wellness, and Happiness in the Prevention and Management of Mental Health Disorders
Saturday, May 4, 2024 | 9:00am-12pm
Stacy Simera, Instructor
Locator #12578
2 Credit Hours
In the past, researchers thought the best way to improve human functioning was to understand and prevent disease. In recent years, however, we have recognized that much can be gained by examining and understanding the ingredients for wellness. Positive psychology refers to the study of happiness, as opposed to the study of unhappiness; and recent research shows that positive psychology as a modality can be as effective as CBT in the treatment of depression. In this workshop participants will explore the research and identify tools to help clients flourish and build resilience in their lives.
Parenting in Racially and Cultural Diverse Families
Monday, May 6, 2024 | 5:30 pm – 7:00pm
Carmen Toro-Wooten, Instructor
Locator #12582
1.5 Credit Hours
Resource Readiness – Cultural and Diversity Issues
This course helps participants understand the impact of parenting children from different racial/ethnic/cultural backgrounds and to know how to honor and incorporate child’s race/ethnicity/culture into their existing family system. Strategies are identified to help children develop positive and proud identities and to help children and families prepare for and handle racism in all forms.
Reunification as a Primary Goal
Monday, May 6, 2024 | 7:15pm-8:45pm
Carmen Toro-Wooten, Instructor
Locator #12586
1.5 Credit Hours
Resource Readiness: Managing Placement Transitions
This course helps participants understand the permanency options that exist and the role of parents who are fostering in permanency planning—especially with reunification. Permanency from the child’s perspective is explored. This course helps participants understand their role in caring for children while at the same time preparing them to return home and the role of parents who are fostering in working with the child’s family to achieve reunification. Concurrent planning is described.
Foster Care-A Means to Support Families
Tuesday, May 7, 2024 | 9:00am-10:30am
Carmen Toro-Wooten, Instructor
Locator #12583
1.5 Credit Hours
Resource Readiness – Managing Placement Transitions
This course helps participants understand the child welfare experience from the perspective of the child’s parents and supports finding compassion for parents and the challenges they may be facing. Strategies to nurture children’s relationships with their parents and to integrate and maintain on-going communication and connection between parents and children are covered. This course describes the potential challenges in partnering with the child’s parents and for helping children prepare for visits, including understanding and managing reactions to visits.
Maintaining Children’s Connections with Siblings, Extended Family Members, and their community
Tuesday, May 7, 2024 | 10:45am-11:45am
Carmen Toro-Wooten, Instructor
Locator #12585
1 Credit Hour
Resource Readiness – Managing Placement Transitions
This course helps participants understand the importance of integrating and maintaining on-going communication and connection between siblings, including understanding sibling dynamics and the importance of sibling bonds. Tips for how to navigate and support visits with siblings are shared. This course also helps participants recognize the importance of maintaining connections with extended family members and the community at large (i.e., schools, church, friends, sporting teams) and identifies strategies to keep children connected to their community. The role of parents who are fostering in maintaining these connections is highlighted.
Mental Health Considerations
Tuesday, May 7, 2024 | 1:00pm-2:00pm
Carmen Toro-Wooten, Instructor
Locator #12768
1 Credit Hours
Resource Readiness – Mental Health, Self-Regulation, and Self-Care
This course provides a basic understanding of mental health disorders and conditions that commonly occur in childhood. Content is shared to illustrate that not all ‘survival’ behaviors or symptoms of grief are connected with mental health disorders. Commonly administered psychotropic medications are described and information about how to obtain consistent, adequate and appropriate access to mental health services is highlighted.
Impact of Substance Use
Tuesday, May 7, 2024 | 2:30pm-4:00pm
Carmen Toro-Wooten, Instructor
Locator #12588
1.5 Credit Hours
Readiness – Substance Abuse
This course helps participants understand the short and long-term impact on children exposed to substances prenatally including FASD. Also covered are issues that may be present if parents use(d) substances and medical issues that can arise due to substance exposure including a higher risk of later addiction. The genetic component of addiction and addiction as a chronic disease is described. This course also shares parenting strategies for children exposed to substances prenatally.
Normalcy and the Reasonable and Prudent Standard: What’s the Standard?
Saturday, May 18, 2024 | 9:00am-12:00pm
CeCe Norwood, Instructor
Locator#12177
3 Credit Hours
This training introduces caregivers to the concept of normalcy and defines the Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard (RPPS). Caregivers will learn what needs to be considered when applying the RPPS, and will practice applying the standard in a number of scenarios.
Resources and Partnership Building to Improve Post Secondary Outcomes for Foster Youth
Saturday, May 18, 2024 | 1:00pm-4:00pm
CeCe Norwood, Instructor
Locator #12179
3 Credit Hours
This training provides an overview of federal, state, and county-specific resources to assist with higher education after foster care. Participants will learn how to partner with systems to identify post-secondary resources for young people emancipating from foster care.
Anxiety Disorders among Children and Adolescents: Recognition and Interventions
Thursday, May 23, 2024 | 10:00am-1:00pm
Stacy Simera, Instructor
Locator #12579
3 Credit Hours
The purpose of this course is to educate caregivers on the diagnosis and treatment of child and adolescent anxiety disorders. Primary focus will be on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) diagnostic criteria and evidence-based treatment practices.
*VIRTUAL*
Attachment
Saturday, May 25, 2024 | 9:00am- 11:00am
Deb McMullen, Instructor
Locator #12765
2 Credit Hours
Resource Readiness – Trauma and Its Impact On Children And The Family, Promoting Attachment
This course helps participants understand the importance of attachment in parenting, both for the children and parents who are fostering or adopting. It covers the impact of fractured attachments/lack of attachments on children’s ability to attach and identifies strategies to develop healthy attachment bonds. This course also covers developing trust and developing children’s sense of connectedness and belonging. How to be attuned to children and recognizing and honoring children’s primary attachment to their families is also highlighted.
VIRTUAL*
Separation, Grief, and Loss
Saturday, May 25, 2024 | 11:30am-1:30pm
Deb McMullen, Instructor
Locator #12591
2 Credit Hours
Resource Readiness – Trauma and Its Impact On Children And The Family, Promoting Attachment
This course helps participants understand the impact of separation and ambiguous loss, and the different ways children grieve. Life-long grieving and the importance of providing opportunities for grieving is explored. Strategies to help children deal with grief and loss are identified. Participants will understand loss and fractured attachments with birth family members and previous placements; recognize the importance of establishing and maintaining essential relationships with and for children; understand the impact of frequent moves and the importance of managing transitions for children; and understand the separation, grief and loss experienced by all members of the foster/adoption network.
Class will be closed to anyone arriving more than fifteen (15) minutes late.
*VIRTUAL*
Teens in Foster Care and Emotional Resiliency
Wednesday, June 5, 2024 | 9:00am-12:00pm
Jewell Harris, Instructor
Locator #10988
3 Credit Hours
Regardless of where young people are placed in the child welfare system, they need to develop boundaries, emotional health, and the skills to build lifelong relationships. There are specific tools that can help young people overcome the trauma of their pasts and navigate adult relationships. This workshop has been designed to incorporate the insights of foster care alumni throughout the nation to equip professionals to facilitate the emotional development of youth in care. It includes national research on foster care alumni and post-traumatic stress disorder. Participants will leave with concrete tools to support adolescents in foster care with the development of personal boundaries and the skills to build trusting, restorative relationships.
Verbal De-escalation in Child Welfare
Saturday, June 8, 2024 | 9:00am-12:00pm
Brian Lowery, Instructor
Locator #10267
3 Credit Hours
Resource Readiness: This class will examine how pre-placement experiences and current stressors may affect a foster child’s emotions, leading to escalating behaviors. This workshop reviews the skills of active listening, non-violent communication, and de-escalation. Levels of crisis development and the conflict cycle are discussed, emphasizing appropriate foster parent response. Trainees will participate in exercises and demonstrations concerning personal space, body posture and motion, which will enable them to more successfully deal with emotional or physical crisis which can occur with children living in out of home care.
Life Skills Pathway Tools for Take Off: Independent Living Transition Planning
Saturday, June 8, 2024 | 1:00pm-4:00pm
Brian Lowery, Instructor
Locator #12976
3 Credit Hours
This Life Skills Pathway curriculum is made up of an instructor-led course followed by a transfer of learning activity the caregiver completes with the youth. The instructor-led course will assist resource parents in gaining access to the tools and resources available for their youth ages fourteen and up. They will become familiar with various Independent Living Assessments and will discover how the scores of those assessments’ transfer to an Independent Living Plan. Parents will recognize the value of working as a team with their youth’s caseworker and youth. Resource parents will review the ODJFS Toolkit and various resources that are available to assist their youth toward successful emancipation. Completion of the instructor-led session awards a Level-1 Assessment badge, and a Level-2 Assessment badge is awarded upon completion of the transfer of learning activity by the caregiver.
Examining Unconventional and Mischaracterized Trauma Expressions in Black Males
Tuesday, June 11, 2024 | 9:00am-4:00pm
LaToya Logan, Instructor
Locator #9276
5.5 Credit Hours
Raising awareness related to diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment referrals based on a lack of cultural inclusion surrounding Black males who exhibit aggression and apathy is the necessary first step to addressing disparities. Viewing apathy as a defense mechanism encourages social workers to strengthen their assessments and challenge outcomes. It allows for a deeper understanding of how trauma experiences can manifest into aggression and apathy based on cultural norms and environmental factors that have not been evaluated. Through cultural competence and inclusion of cultural differences, social workers can lead changes in the fields of mental health and social services. They can help promote equity in educational programming and support, make court referrals for treatment options instead of confinement, and develop more effective assessments and treatment interventions that have a direct impact on individuals, families, and communities.
*VIRTUAL*
Connect: Supporting Children Exposed to Domestic Violence
Tuesday, June 11, 2024 | 5:30pm-8:30pm
Michelle Bell, Instructor
Locator #12639
3 Credit Hours
A basic and interactive virtual three-hour training session on the dynamics of domestic violence, the impact of exposure to domestic violence on children, and strategies for supporting children who have been exposed to domestic violence.
*JOINT*
Invisible Injuries: The Impact of Trauma
Friday, June 14, 2024 | 9:00am-4:00pm
Paula Walters, Instructor
Locator #8439
5.5 Credit Hours
Trauma is not segregated pockets of events or occurrences that happen in silos. Rather, trauma is intersections of different adverse life events that layer upon each other, forcing these events to be intertwined. When this occurs, a person is not able to differentiate between healthy and harmful environments. The intention of this workshop is to dismantle these silos, as treatment cannot only tackle one component of trauma independently from the others. Attendees will address myths that surround abuse, and be challenged to confront their own bias regarding the abusers, the victims, and the incidents of abuse. This workshop takes you to the uncomfortable steps of “walking a mile in the shoes of trauma survivors”.
*VIRTUAL*
Engaging Primary Families
Saturday, June 15, 2024 | 9:00am-12:00pm
Deb McMullen, Instructor
Locator #12911
3 Credit Hours
This training is specifically designed for licensed resource families in the early years of caregiving. It will address the importance of engaging primary families. Common barriers to developing strong relationships with the primary family will be discussed. Participants will consider how a child might be impacted if they lose their connections with their primary family. Strategies to support positive relationships with primary families will be explored. This training is part of the Fundamentals of Fostering series.
AHA Pediatric HeartSaver First Aid and CPR Without Skills Testing
Saturday, June 22, 2024 | 9:00 am – 4:00 pm**
Thasia Awad, Instructor
Locator #9483
6 Credit Hours
This course utilizes the American Heart Association Pediatric First Aid and CPR course materials but does not include skills testing. The participant receives a comprehensive overview of first aid basics for children, as well as CPR and AED use for all ages. **Please note that there will be a 2 hour(2pm-4pm) mandatory hands-on skills testing for Lucas County Children Services licensed caregivers only. For caregivers from other counties who wish to seek certification can attend this portion for a fee, payable to the trainer.
*VIRTUAL*
The Effects of Fostering
Saturday, June 22, 2024 | 9:00am-12:00pm
Deb McMullen, Instructor
Locator #12913
3 Credit Hours
This training is specifically designed for licensed resource caregivers in the early years of their caregiving development. This training will assist participants in identifying what factors contribute the most to their stress as caregivers and what strengths they bring to caregiving. Participants will learn to identify indicators that they or someone in their family may be experiencing burn out or secondary traumatic stress. Strategies to prevent or mitigate the stress of caregiving will also be addressed. This training is part of the Fundamentals of Fostering series.
Using Discipline to Teach Self-Regulation
Monday, June 24, 2024 | 10:00am-1:00pm
Krista Ruff, Instructor
Locator #12729
3 Credit Hours
This training, part of the Fundamentals of Fostering series, focuses on helping caregivers understand discipline as a series of teachable moments rather than a way to control behavior. Participants will consider the importance of self-regulation and how various parenting styles influence discipline. Participants will learn discipline strategies for teaching children how to regulate their emotions and behaviors.
*VIRTUAL*
Psychotropic Medications: Questions to Ask about Kids on Meds
Wednesday, June 26, 2024 | 10:00am-1:00pm
Stacy Simera, Instructor
Locator #12581
3 Credit Hours
The purpose of this course is to educate caseworkers, foster parents and other stakeholders on psychotropic medication use in the treatment of mental disorders among children and adolescents. Specific attention will be paid to answering the questions most people ask, or should ask, regarding psychotropic medication.
Visit Information For Current Foster Parents,
for additional information about ongoing training requirements and resources.