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You are cordially invited to:
FOSTER TOGETHER
Transforming Caregiving, Building Community
Thursday Mornings, October 22 – November 19th
Who we are
A synergistic group of public and private partners committed to helping recruit and retain resource families in LA County.
Our Why
ACCESS TO A NURTURING HOME is essential to ease the transition and aid in the healing process as children enter foster care.
In the past few years, the number of available foster homes in Los Angeles was nearly cut in half, putting the system into crisis. As a result, children were separated from siblings, placed hours away from their home, school, and community, and in some cases put in overcrowded shelters or institutions because no homes were available.
We believe this is unacceptable and stand together to ensure all children are welcomed into a loving family that can support their growth, learning, healing and reunification or other permanency plans.
Conference Overview
About the Foster Together Network Virtual Conference Series
A virtual conference series sharing breakthrough best practices around caregiver support and recruitment in Los Angeles, hosted in five Thursday morning 90-minute sessions.
Conference Schedule
OCTOBER 22 – NOVEMBER 19, 2020 (THURSDAYS)
Thursday, October 22: 9:30 – 11am | Optimizing Caregiving in a 2020 Virtual World
Bridging expert perspectives and discussion, this event kicks off a series of five sessions focusing on how we can work together across our system to move crucial child welfare priorities amidst the new pressures of 2020. Pandemic restructuring presents challenges and also new opportunities to stay in, homeschool and maintain community connections. Hear key data and lived experience about how 2020’s challenges have affected out-of-home care, including resource parent support, recruitment & retention. Learn how agencies are providing extra educational supports and advances in tele-mental health, and contribute to a cross-sector discussion around needs and opportunities to advance quality foster parenting.
VIEW LIST OF SPEAKERS
View Hot Tips
Thursday, October 29: 11am – 12:30pm | Wellbeing in 2020: Professional & Personal
Responding to the deep impact that COVID and 2020 challenges have on all of our mental health, this session covers the impact of direct and secondary traumatic stress and offers strategies that enhance both personal and professional wellbeing for both parents and agency teams.
VIEW LIST OF SPEAKERS
View Hot Tips
Thursday, November 5: 11am – 12:30pm | Transformative Recruitment: From Pandemic Pivot to a New, Better Normal
Learn how transitioning to virtual recruitment under COVID unearthed A-HA moments that increased success. Hear how new recruitment, relationship building and support techniques are being successfully applied to generate leads and usher families through approval. ISFC recruitment and support will specifically be addressed as part of this exciting session!
Hear how our underlying attitudes unconsciously can impact our understanding, decisions, and actions, including specifically in the foster care environment. Discuss methods that help us understand these assumptions so we can better support youth and the families who care for them.
There is no group more important to the informing and shaping of our policy and practice than the youth who experience our care first-hand. Our final session brings us together with current and former youth in care, who will draw from their lived experience expertise to provide insight and guidance on how our system of out-of-home care helps youth thrive and succeed, where we are falling short, what needs to change, and how we can get it right. We look forward to learning from and engaging with these youth leaders as we journey forward.
“When you know better, you do better“
– Maya Angelou
Hosts
Resources
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Addressing Racial Injustice
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Child Care for Low Income and Essential Workers – English and Spanish
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Educational, Socioemotional and Other Resources Curated by DCFS
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Financial Resources for Caregivers
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Motivating Your Student
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Parenting Resources
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Recursos Financieros
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Self Care and Mental Health Resources.pdf
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Student & Family Wellness Hotline
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Student & Family Wellness Hotline (En Espanol)
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WellBeing4LA
Hot Tips
October 22: Optimizing Caregiving in a 2020 Virtual World
Christian Reed
- www.ChristianDGreen.com
- www.green4students.com
- Christian’s Book Uncovering Your Worth
For Caregivers
- DCFS’ support for resource parent email: RFSPLiaisonUnit@dcfs.lacounty.gov
- Theresa Reed, Program Director, Pasadena City College
For Youth in Care
- Theresa Reed, Program Director, Pasadena City College
UCLA Data Report
October 29: Wellbeing in 2020: Professional & Personal
- LA County DMH Help Line – for all County residents (800) 854-7771
- Option 1: 24/7 for referrals, crisis counseling and mobile field response teams
- Option 2: Emotional Support Warm Line (9:00 am – 9:00 pm)
- Option 3: Veteran Line (9:00 am – 9:00 pm)
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How to Cope With Holiday Family Gatherings and the Coronavirus Pandemic (Cleveland Clinic)
- A Training Program for Non-Clinical Staff: Trauma Informed Strategies for Working with Individuals with ID/DD/ASD
November 12: Overcoming Bias To Improve Recruitment, Retention & Quality Care
- ceo.lacounty.gov/antiracism
- www.heartoslay.com
- When You Can’t Be There in Person (Haralambie)
- Overcoming Bias To Improve Recruitment, Retention & and Quality Care
History
In response to the crisis shortage of foster homes in 2017, First 5 LA and The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation launched a collective impact effort to make sure kids received the care they need in collaboration with the Center for Strategic Partnership, the LA County Department of Children and Family Services, and various public and private partners.
These partners formed a broad-based coalition of stakeholders, Foster Together Network, to increase the number of foster families in Los Angeles County. This coalition has since grown to include numerous foster family agencies, recruitment focused non-profits, community leaders, faith-based partners, LA County Department of Mental Health and the LA County Probation Department. It has launched influential pilots, worked with our County to improve its data systems and partnerships, and continues to grow.
Below are three key reports published by the Network that outline these efforts in more detail.
2020 Report
2019 Report
2018 Report
Join Us
JOIN US IN ACHIEVING SYSTEMIC CHANGE
It is an exciting time for the Foster Together Network and the transformation of the foster family recruitment and retention system in Los Angeles.
The Network is actively pursuing system change along three strategic domains: Data-driven Decisionmaking, Faith-partnerships, and Cross-sector Collaboration. We invite you to join these workgroups and be part of the movement.
We also look forward to growing additional pilots and supporting additional system change strategies as the work evolves. We believe we have an opportunity to transform Los Angeles County, the state of California and serve as an example nationally for collaborative engagement in best practices advancing the recruitment and retention of foster families. This is an opportunity to be a part of the solution—to change the lives of children and improve the system that finds them a home.
Join us. For more information on the Foster Together Network and the collective partnership we have built, contact the Center For Strategic Partnerships at Rochelle@socialimpactadvisory.com.
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