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"Support and Services I Wish Were Available
for Foster Parents in My Community"

Group Discussion notes from the October, 2003 LINK Family Gathering

• Support/Recognition for birth children in foster families
• Clothing Exchanges/Closets
  • Many foster families don't use when available - Why?
  • Some county agencies discourage use of hand me downs or used clothing
• Mentoring / Buddy programs
• Access to dental care for foster children
• Increased access to medical care for foster children
• Access to adoption / foster care competent therapists
• Access to attachment disorder therapy and services
• Access to legal information and foster care/adoption competent attorneys
• Improved law guardian services for foster children
• Resource guide for foster parents - formal and informal-one stop shopping
• Access to respite care - discussion resulted in conclusion there exists a wide variety of opinion and philosophy about how and when to use respite services, needs further exploration
  • In-home respite
  • Out of home respite
  • Camp or youth development programs
  • Teen employment programs
• Better information about the child and their family's needs/circumstances at placement
• School personnel need better information about child and birth family needs/circumstances - discussion resulted in conclusion that foster parents need to take responsibility to ensure information is communicated
• School personnel need to become informed and aware of foster care and adoptions issues in general
• Improved communication between foster parents and caseworkers
• Increased educational opportunities, meaningful and useful - Discussion resulted in conclusion that money need not be an issue, most communities have a wealth of educational and training programs that foster parents and caseworkers don't know are there.
• Increased knowledge and understanding of Family Court process
• Socialization Opportunities for all members of foster families
• Recognition from Agency of difficulty and professionalism of foster parent roles and responsibility
  • A more "human experience"
  • Birthday and Xmas cards
• Honesty from agency personnel
  • Be direct
  • Tell the same story to all parties
  • The good stuff AND the bad Stuff - "I'd rather know up front what I'm facing."
• Awareness and recognition of all foster family roles (children, grandparents, extended family), not just parents - discussion resulted in conclusion that word family should be used in place of parents whenever possible.
• Birth Parents need education and reassurance about foster family roles
  • From caseworkers
  • Support groups
• Increased caseworker understanding of foster parent roles
• Card/form with basic identifying information about child at placement - social security #, MA number, allergies, health status, therapists name, school, etc.

• Respite Services - many approaches to respite, what's in child's best interest?
• Foster Families - whole family is involved, support and education for extended family members, not just parents. Extension of family to family concept
• Money - Fundraising, grant writing, using / allocating existing monies differently, projects/programs that don't take new money just a different perspective, tapping into what's there.
• The legal framework of permanency planning - how the court system works, whose regs are they anyway, understanding the foster parent role as defined in statute, other players roles and responsibilities
• Update on CFSR and PIP as needed
• How to keep LINK networks going at project end, regional and local networks
• Ideas for parent group outreach / services to birth parents
• Cultural Diversity/Sensitivity - Not just race, gender identification, culture of poverty
• Forming working partnerships and communicating effectively with agency personnel
• Letting people know that you know - outreach and public relations
• Website development
• Post Adoption Services, support for special education students

10/21/03