Support Groups

Dancing with a Porcupine: The CaRES team leads you through a reading and discussion of “Dancing with a Porcupine” by Jennie Owens. This book shares the compelling story of the author’s struggle to save her own life while caring for three children she and her husband adopted from foster care.
During the three sessions, you will discuss themes including: self-care; trauma-informed care; expectations and hurt feelings; compassion fatigue; and balancing real life with the outside pressure to look like you are doing it all well.  Register here!

FASD Trying Differently Rather Than Harder: The CaRES team leads you through a reading and discussion of “Trying Differently Rather Than Harder: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders” by Diane Malbin. This book is a readable, narrative discussion of the neurobehavioral approach to working with children and youth with FASD. The book focuses on understanding behaviors differently through case studies and examples of how FASD impacts everyday life.
During four sessions, you will be discussing themes including: adaptions, common challenges, cognitive changes and strategies to address them, working with memory disruptions, and talking about FASD in a supportive informative manner. Register here!

TBRI: The Connected Child: The CaRES team will be leading a group through reading and discussion of “The Connected Child,” by Karyn Purvis.
“The Connected Child” lays out the foundational principles for Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI), a therapeutic model that trains caregivers to provide effective support and treatment for at-risk children.
Discussion at the four weekly book club meetings will dive into what TBRI is, and discussion will include a look at new strategies for building connection and managing behaviors.
So you can fully participate in the class, please have access to a copy of the book. You can find “The Connected Child” on Amazon, at your local library or at local retailers. Register here!

TBRI The Connected Parent: Join us for another TBRI book club! “The Connected Parent,” by Karyn Purvis and Lisa Qualls is the companion book to the widely popular, “The Connected Child.” 
Discussions during the four weekly book club meetings will review TBRI principals and dive into practical parenting applications and real life strategies for understanding attachment, teaching respect, understanding sensory needs, adapting strategies for teens, and taking care of yourself. 
So you can fully participate in the class, please have access to a copy of the book. You can find “The Connected Parent” on Amazon, at your local library or at local retailers. Register here!

TBRI Connected Therapist Book Club, Relating Through the Senses: This 3-week book club is an extension of the Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) modules or the TBRI book clubs: The Connected Child and The Connected Parent. Based on selections from “The Connected Therapist” by Marti Smith, discussions during the three sessions will focus on understanding sensory processing challenges, developing sensory processing strategies, and the practical application of those strategies in everyday caregiving. 
This TBRI book club is an encouraging and welcoming space for foster parents and kinship caregivers to engage in a next step in peer-to-peer support, problem-solving, and learning facilitated by a TBRI practitioner.  
Caregivers who have completed either both TBRI book clubs or the TBRI modules can register. Register here!

Caregiver Strategies for Holidays and Celebrations: Holidays and celebrations can be a time of family togetherness, but they can also be a time of stress and heightened expectations. It takes intentional planning to give the children in your care a wonderful experience that includes the things that make the holiday or celebration special for everyone.
In this 2-hour supportive facilitated discussion, kinship and foster caregivers will talk with each other about ways to manage the expectations of the child, their family, and your family. You will also talk about how to plan ahead to minimize the emotional challenges that sometimes come with family celebrations. Lastly, you will have an opportunity to create a celebration action-plan that is specific to your family and the child in your home. Register here!

Fostering Across Race, Ethnicity, and Culture: Welcoming a child into your home, even temporarily, means accepting and affirming their whole selves. When a child has a different racial, ethnic, or cultural background than yours, it can be challenging to know the best ways to properly care for their unique physical, spiritual, and cultural needs.  
During this facilitated discussion, caregivers will share their racial, ethnic, or cultural perspective and develop strategies for meeting the needs of a child who has a different background or perspective. The discussion will also include some tips and tricks for finding resources, maintaining community connections, and addressing biases in the community.   
Facilitated by caregivers with lived experience in transracial and multi-cultural caregiving, this group aims to discuss the full scope of multi-racial, ethnic, and cultural foster families. Register here!  

Fostering While Parenting, Supporting Our Biological and Adopted Children: When you have children who live at home with you, becoming a foster parent also means becoming a foster family. Growing up with foster siblings comes with unique challenges but there are strategies you can use to help your bio and adopted kids adapt and thrive! 
During both sessions of this supportive facilitated discussion, you will collaborate with fellow caregivers to identify some of the unique challenges bio and adopted kids face, consider the impact fostering may have on your children, and share strategies you can use to nurture strength and resilience as a family unit. Register here!  

Using Storytime for Connection and Support: Reading with your children can do much more than support their academic growth! During this supportive facilitated discussion caregivers will discuss strategies they can use before, during, and after reading to build social-emotional learning with the children in their care. Caregivers will also collaborate to identify techniques they can use to increase attachment with their child through reading and story time. Whether it is picture books, a chapter book or a series, reading with the children in your home can lead to deeper attachment and improved social-emotional skills!
Participants will also receive a pdf resource with book lists for various age ranges and topics. Register here!  

Supportive Facilitated Discussion Group: Navegando el Cuidado de Crianza Como un Cuidador de Habla Hispana:

¿Alguna vez ha sentido que su cultura latino/a/x e idioma impacta su experiencia como padre de crianza?  
En este grupo de discusión facilitada de apoyo solo para hispanohablantes, tendrá la oportunidad de hablar con otros padres de crianza y parientes como proveedores de cuidados sobre sus experiencias y compartir las suyas. Como grupo, hablarán sobre herramientas y técnicas útiles para navegar por los problemas comunes que enfrentan los cuidadores de habla hispana y utilizarlas para desarrollar estrategias específicamente para su familia.  
Esta discusión facilitada de una sola sesión es específicamente para parientes y padres de crianza que consideran el español como su idioma principal. La discusión se lleva a cabo en español y es facilitada por hablantes nativos de español. ¡Registrate aquí!

Supporting LGBTQIA+ Youth in Foster Care: Understanding your child’s identity is critical to providing them the care and support they need to navigate the development years. Children with an LGBTQIA+ identity may need additional support as they navigate extra social and cultural factors.  In this supportive facilitated discussion group, you will have an opportunity to talk through LGBTQIA+ terminology and identify concrete tools you can use to support a child’s LGBTQIA+ identity.
During the two facilitated discussion sessions, you can ask questions about support resources, share ways you have supported a child in your care, and hear how other caregivers have navigated situations related to a child’s LGBTQIA+ identity. Register here!

Navigating Fostering as a LGBTQIA+ Caregiver: As an LGBTQIA+ caregiver have you felt that your Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) impacts your fostering journey?
In this supportive facilitated discussion group, you will get a chance to talk with other LGBTQIA+ kinship and foster caregivers about their experiences and share your own.  As a group, you will talk about useful tools and techniques for navigating common issues faced by LGBTIA+ caregivers and use these to develop strategies specifically for your family.
This single session facilitated discussion is specifically for kinship and foster caregivers who identify as LGBTQIA+ caring for children with any SOGIE. Register Here!

Caring for Drug Impacted Infants and Children: This facilitated discussion group is open to all caregivers of infants and children but was designed to follow the Alliance courses, “As They Grow: The Drug Impacted Infant and Toddler/Child” During this facilitated discussion, you will consider the signs of withdrawals in infants; what works best in caring for an impacted infant including therapeutic handling techniques and resources. You will also discuss issues, behaviors, interventions, effective parenting techniques, and resources for the children in your care.  Register here!

Littlest Lives and Their Big Needs – Parenting 0 to 2: As a parent of an infant or toddler, the earliest development years are among the most critical to a child’s long-term development. Children under 2 who are in foster care often require supports and approaches that are not so typical for their peers. You will talk through their needs, develop strategies to address those needs, and identify the resources available to help you support the littlest lives in care. You will also be able to build community with other caregivers of kids under 2 to share resources, experiences and problem-solving strategies. Register here!

Parenting in the Digital Age: Ready access to smart phones, tablets, and computers has created a whole new world of challenges for parents of pre-teens and teens. Youth do not need to leave their bedrooms to be introduced to risky situations. And it is challenging for caregivers to know how to guide children to appropriate use while keeping them safe.
During this single session supportive facilitated group, you will talk with fellow caregivers about the challenges of parenting in the digital age. You will learn some warning signs when a child’s internet usage has become unsafe and potentially dangerous. You will discuss basic internet programs, apps, geo tracking data, dangers in sharing pictures, videos, and personal information online.  And you will have the opportunity to practice having a conversation about internet safety with your pre-teen or teen.  Register here! 

Parenting Teens: This facilitated discussion group is a continuation of the seven-part “Parenting Teens” webinar. This group will continue to explore strategies for parenting teens with a history of trauma, developing healthy and supportive relationships with your teen, nurturing their identity, and understanding their challenging behaviors. You’ll work with other parents of teens to develop an action plan that takes into account your and your teen’s unique circumstances and proactively addresses the challenges you face. Register here!

Practical Parenting Skills for Caregivers: It isn’t always easy to meet the complex needs of a child while navigating a new parental role. Foster parenting calls for a trauma-informed, mindful, and positive response to a wide variety of behaviors. You will work with fellow caregivers to develop practical parenting strategies that are trauma-informed, appropriate for the child, and suited to your home. Register here!

Approaching Permanency: A Guardianship & Adoption Conversation: This topic support group is your chance to discuss adoption and guardianship with others and think through what kind of permanency would work best for everyone involved. As a caregiver whose child is not able to return home, you may be trying to sort through the other permanency options. You are possibly wondering about the concurrent planning process and what questions to ask about guardianship or adoption. You may also be thinking about how to make plans for yourself and the child in your care. Register here!

Grief and Loss in Your Fostering Journey: As a caregiver for a child in the foster care system, grief and loss are an inherent part of your journey. You may be grieving a placement that isn’t going as expected or hoped. Even as you celebrate a child’s return home or to an adoptive placement, your family may be grieving the loss of a child or experiencing a sense of loss due to a disrupted placement. 
During this supportive facilitated discussion, we will talk about the realities of grief and loss as they relate to the fostering experience. We will share strategies for recognizing grief in yourself, partner, or your children. And we will look at ways to acknowledge the complexities of loss, navigate grief, and share healthy strategies for walking through the grieving process.  Register here!

Self-Care for Caregivers: The very best thing you can do for those who depend on you is to take care of yourself. This group will engage in conversations around how to make sure you see how valuable your contribution is, as well as also how demanding it can be. You can talk about challenges you’re facing when thinking about self-care, because real life does sometimes make it hard to prioritize. You’ll work toward developing an action plan that takes into account your unique circumstances and proactively addresses things that might derail your self-supporting activities. Register here!

Boundaries As Self-Care: As a caregiver, the very best thing you can do for those who depend on you is to take care of yourself. This group is an extension of the supportive facilitated discussion group “Who Is Taking Care of the Caregiver?”
In this group, you will engage in conversations around how to make sure you see how setting and keeping healthy boundaries allows you to continue doing the valuable work you do while protecting your important relationships. You can talk about challenges you’re facing when thinking about boundaries, because real life sometimes makes it hard to say no or hold to your priorities.
You’ll work toward developing an action plan that takes into account your unique circumstances and proactively addresses things that might make it hard to maintain your identified healthy boundaries. Register here!

Fostering as Part of a Team: As a caregiver for a child in the foster care system, you are part of a parenting team. The courts, social worker, CASA, GAL, medical team, therapists and the child’s biological family all have a role to play. Knowing what your role is and how to partner with the other member of the child’s team improves the child’s care, your experience as a foster parent, and the long-term outcomes of the placement.
During the three sessions, we will talk about who the members of the child’s foster care team are and their roles, and identify ways to promote positive relationships with them. This will include a look at how to support family time and partnership with the biological/first family,  understanding the role of DCYF staff, and how to positively partner with them for placement success. You will also identify the opportunities and limitations of the caregiver role in decision-making and planning. Register here!

While You Wait: You have thought long and hard about what it means for you to be a foster parent. You may even have ideas of what it will be like to welcome a child into your home. While you wait for your license or first placement to arrive, this facilitated discussion will help you consider some of the needs in the fostering community and how you are suited to meet them. You’ll talk with fellow new foster parents about some of the changes and expectations that come with fostering. You will also have a chance to consider your role as part of the caregiving team and how you can partner to support the child(ren) while in your care and as they move into permanency. Lastly, you’ll work towards developing a set of parameters for accepting your first placements to promote a good fit for both you and the child(ren) placed in your care.  At the conclusion of this 2-hour supportive facilitated discussion, you will receive a list of resources and trainings to help you continue to build your caregiving tool kit now and throughout your fostering journey.  Register here!