A key activity for ASCF is providing training in trauma-informed care practices to our staff, foster parents, and volunteers, as well as individuals and groups in the community who regularly interact with children and families who have experienced trauma.
Foster Parent Training
We believe that foster parents play a vital role in a child and family’s recovery and resiliency from trauma. As a result, ASCF is committed to the continued learning, growth, and support of foster parents as they serve as instruments of change for children and families with child welfare involvement.
Our training department uses several evidence-based training curricula and approaches to assist foster parents in:
- Understanding trauma-related mental health symptoms in children and families.
- Utilizing trauma-informed relationship-building and parenting strategies within their homes.
- Advocating for the needs of their children across various child-serving systems.
- Understanding and identifying evidence-based approaches to assessment and intervention among children and families with complex trauma experiences.
Foster parents residing on the ASCF campus receive the following trainings:
Resource Parent Curriculum (RPC)
Caring for Children Who Have Experienced Trauma: A Workshop for Resource Parents (known as the RPC) was developed by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), a leader in the field of child trauma intervention. The RPC is a 16-hour curriculum delivered to groups composed of 10-20 foster parents. The curriculum educates foster parents about trauma-related mental health symptoms, provides them with trauma-informed parenting strategies, and equips them with skills to advocate for their children’s needs within various systems.
Child-Adult Relationship Enhancement (CARE)
Child-Adult Relationship Enhancement, or CARE, is an evidence-based workshop that provides adults with practical, hands-on skills for interacting with children and teens in positive, trauma-informed ways. CARE is appropriate for any adult working with children. CARE uses principles and skills from evidence-based, positive parenting programs to equip adults with skills needed to build healthy relationships with children and reduce children’s mild-to-moderate behavioral challenges. With strong trauma-informed underpinnings, CARE focuses on building resilience among children ages 0-18. CARE is delivered by mental health providers formally trained in the model.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
EMDR is an evidence-based treatment approach for children, teens, and adults that enables the accessing and processing of traumatic memories and other adverse life experiences to bring these to an adaptive resolution. After successful treatment with EMDR therapy, affective distress is relieved, negative beliefs are redeveloped, and physiological arousal is reduced. During EMDR therapy the client attends to emotionally disturbing material in brief sequential doses while simultaneously focusing on an external stimulus. Therapist-directed eye movements are the most used external stimulus but also a variety of other stimuli including hand-tapping and audio stimulation are often used (Shapiro, 1991). There are over 30 controlled research studies that report the benefits of EMDR for reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress.
Trauma Training Requests
ASCF staff are available to provide trauma training to our community providers and partners. To request training or find out more information, please contact Kristin Hoffman at KristinH@allstarchildren.org or 941.217.6503.