This course provides an overview of Family Time Coaching, an evidence-supported model for parent-child visitation that focuses on family strengths and individual needs of the child. Participants will learn about the importance of family time for children in the child welfare system as an effective strategy to expedite reunification and prevent re-entry into child welfare system. Participants will gain knowledge of how family time is essential for healthy child development and helps to support parent-child attachment, reduce additional trauma from disruption of attachment, and lessen children’s sense of abandonment while increasing opportunities to feel connected to family and community. Regular, quality family time increases opportunities for children and parents to maintain and strengthen cultural and kinship relationships, provides parents with motivation to meet reunification requirements, and increases the likelihood of reunification. Regular FAMILY TIME can also lessen behavioral health symptoms in children.
This class is for all staff who are in the role of supervising or coaching parent-child visitation and will address skill development in:
- Facilitating pre-and post-family time meetings with parents to plan for each visit and to debrief afterwards
- Supporting parents to identify their child(ren)’s needs and plan to meet them during family time, linking needs and strengths to those identified in the CANS by the child and family team
- Effectively coaching parents during family time to meet their children’s needs
- Eliciting parents’ strengths and helping them utilize these in family time
- Supporting parents to manage their own thoughts and feelings during visits to keep family time as the best possible experience for their children
- Linking the family time plan to the child welfare case plan, including the Safety Goal
Participants will develop skills to provide Family Time Coaching for child(ren) and parents and to advocate for a Family Time Coaching approach within their child welfare agency or System of Care.