Foster Care Education

CSFPA believes that quality foster care starts with quality foster families.  Proper education and training are a key element to maintaining the quality of care provided by foster families.  Well now, that is easy to say, but harder to do.  Educating foster families takes effort by the families, the certifying agencies, and other groups like CSFPA.  At CSFPA we are dedicated to providing the highest quality education we can.

There are several ways foster, kinship and adoptive families can take education courses to both earn required training hours and learn to be better care takers.

CSFPA Sponsored Training

The Colorado State Foster Parent Assoc. (this site) offers many education courses each year.

• CSFPA Education Conference - every October for 3 days.  You can earn up to 20 training-hour credits.
• CSFPA Boot Camps - several each year.  Check the CSFPA Event Calendar for listings.
• Other education events - check the CSFPA Event Calendar for listings.

CDHS Sponsored Training

Colorado Child Welfare Training Academy - provides training for child welfare professionals, foster parents, and other persons in the child welfare arena.  Most courses are for child welfare workers, but there are some appropriate for foster parents.  If you are a county foster parent the courses are free.

Online Education

Although on-line courses are handy, especially for rural families, they may not provide the same effectiveness of learning as the traditional on-site course.  Check with your agency whether online courses meet your training requirements.  CSFPA does not endorse any of the sites listed below, they are listed for informational purposes.

• Foster Care & Adoptive Community Training - over 100 online courses, typically 3-4 credit hours per course, costing $5 to $10.
• Foster Parent College - provides innovative, research-based, interactive online courses for foster, adoptive, and kinship parents.  Most courses are $10 for 2 hours of training.
• FosterParentTraining.com - $15 per person annual fee allows you to take an unlimited number of courses.
• FosterClub.org - Free foster parent training courses, but there are only about 15 courses currently posted.  Certificates are issued after taking a test.

Support Groups

Some agencies will allow some of the required training hours to be fulfilled by attending foster parent support groups.  Check with your agency.

Self-study

Some agencies will allow some of the required training hours to be fulfilled by reading books, listening to audio recordings, or doing online study.  Check with your agency.