Child and Family Services
Managing and Motivating Foster Parents

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Section 1: Philosophy of Supervision

This section includes the principles governing the role of supervisors in programs that use the Boys Town Model of Care. You will learn the following concepts: The Boys Town treatment philosophy, principles of supervision, the Triadic Model of Supervision and supervision roles.

Section 2: Supervision Activities and Guidelines

You will receive an overview of supervision activities, and define and discuss each activity.   You will discuss how frequently each activity is performed and develop service delivery guidelines.

Section 3: Relationship Development

In this section participants will learn the importance and benefits of building relationships with Foster Parents.  Research has proven that lack of agency support is often a decisive reason why foster parents quit fostering.  You will focus on the steps that you can take as foster care administrators to help build a positive support network around our foster parents and the children in their care.  This section also focuses on knowing when and how to use self-disclosure in professional relationships.  Having a good relationship it vital for change.  You will discuss ways to help establish and maintain the foster parent relationship without hindering it.

Section 4: Conceptual Feedback Process

This section highlights the major sources of information supervisors can draw from to develop staff and foster parent skills.  When you act proactively, you can plan for Foster Parent development rather than solely reacting to their performance.  A process for providing feedback to staff and foster parents – based on performance concepts – is included. You will also learn how to formulate, conceptualize and prioritize supervision feedback.

Section 5: Teaching Program Concepts

This section focuses on specific concept areas related to staff and foster parent effectiveness and program implementation. These program concepts can help untangle the confusion and provide some direction in your thought processes and problem solving.   Emphasis is on teaching skills since skills are the heart of the Boys Town Treatment Foster Family Services program.

Section 6: Intervention Techniques

In this section you will discuss several methods to teach foster parents at every possible opportunity and to coach them along the way. The key to successful teaching is being able to recognize or perceive opportunities to teach.  Perceiving opportunities to teach during home visits helps to make sure that time spent with foster parents is as productive as possible. Teaching methods include modeling, prompting, exploring, teaching by suggestion and confrontation.  Other intervention methods include circular refocusing, reframing and metaphors.  These techniques will provide you with a variety of approaches to help foster parents learn effectively and efficiently.  These are the tools that supervisors use to assist foster parents in making changes. 

This section focuses on specific concept areas for feedback related to staff and foster parent effectiveness and program implementation. You will be given specific techniques you can use to address your staffs’ or foster parents’ performance and find ways to reach a consensus or compromise together. Scenarios are used for group discussion and behavior rehearsals. You will learn how to identify and define major concept areas and develop rationales to support supervision concepts.

Section 8: Treatment Planning

You will be introduced to a treatment planning method that emphasizes individual needs and integrates problem-solving procedures with program components. The focus is on the supervisor’s ability to facilitate treatment planning.  You will learn the importance of the treatment planning process, basic steps in the treatment planning process and a means for assessing its effectiveness.

Section 9: Administrative Meetings and Documentation

This section focuses on administrative supervision meetings that address administrative, program and staff development issues. The benefits of documentation, as well as a procedure for documenting supervision activities, are included. You will learn how to conduct meetings and maintain vital documentation. You will be able to organize a supervision meeting.

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