MANIFESTO
NYS Foster and Adoptive Parent Association, Inc.

Responding to the flux surrounding the role and functions of foster parents, the membership of
The New York State Foster and Adoptive Parent Association proclaimed at its 2001 Annual Meeting:

"Where we as foster parents stand,
What we can be counted on to do, and
What we need to do what we do better."

• We call upon all foster parents to look beyond care-giving and reflect whether we are willing and able, individually, to make or reaffirm a commitment as bridge builder and healer; knowing that what the system now expects and demands of us are attitudes and aptitudes different than those that long have guided foster parenting, and which for some of us may be difficult to achieve.
  
  
• We encourage all foster parents to participate in pre-certification MAPP training and in the Shared Parenting and Compass curricula developed by the Center for Development of Human Services.
  
  
• We ask county Departments of Social Services and private agencies to provide meaningful in-service training programs for foster parents on the elements of the healing process and the effects on child development of disrupted attachment, repetitive stress and acute distress.
  
  
• We call upon counties and agencies to involve foster parents in planning and evaluating trainings and that they plan workshops for foster parents and caseworkers jointly.
  
  
• We call upon all foster parents to embrace the concept of Processional Parenting and participate on-goingly, as do lawyers and other professionals, in their continuing education and development.
  
  
• We call upon the counties and agencies to structure regular case-conferencing between foster parents, birth parents and staff for sharing information about home life and for collaborative decision-making.
  
  
• We call upon the counties and agencies to address the negative effects upon foster parents of vicarious traumatization by strengthening respite services, promoting peer support in general and such groupings among other combinations as grandparents fostering grandchildren, fostering attachment disordered children, and fostering adolescents.
  
  
• We call upon the counties and agencies to conduct comprehensive pediatric assessments of children entering foster care within 30 days alter removal from home and provide foster parents with each child's complete medical record and updates, and all mental health evaluations and treatment summaries and material health histories of birth parents.
  
  
• We call upon the counties, agencies and all foster parents to be open and receptive to the many alterative, and in some instances radically new, treatment modalities and therapies proven effective in healing developmental traumatology and attachment disorders.
  
  
• We call upon all foster parents to be vigilant, persistent, and assertive in securing services for foster children in their care; approaching and utilizing case conferences, service plan reviews, and permanency hearings as opportunities to advocate and be heard so as to highlight needs and identify gaps in service; by insuring we keep all diagnostic and treatment appointments; and by consulting regularly and accepting coaching from clinicians and other health providers.
  
  
• We call upon counties and agencies to cultivate an organizational culture that recognizes, appreciates, and treats foster parents as partners and full members of each child's treatment team; that solicits and considers the opinions of foster parents; and that includes them in decision-making regarding each child's future.

Dated: October 19, 2001 Callicoon, New York, NYS Foster and Adoptive Parent Association, Inc.

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NYS Citizens' Coalition for Children, Inc.
410 East Upland Road • Ithaca, NY 14850
(607) 272-0034 • fax (607) 272-0035
office@nysccc.org
01/31/2008