Introduction Trainers coordinate and teach five statewide courses, and facilitate the development of many other statewide and regional offerings for child welfare staff and community partners. All training offered through the Partnership provides follow-up consultation at the regional and local level. In this way, assessment and more individualized training outcomes can be accommodated. Through lecture, video, cooperative learning activities and written materials, participants are introduced to the agency mission and values and continuum of services. Basic content areas include confidentiality, mandatory child abuse reporting, and employee rights and responsibilities.
Attendance is mandatory.
Focus on Support Staff is a two-day training that provides new Children's Services Division support staff an opportunity to strengthen their skills in customer service as part of a total agency and specific branch culture. Through presenters, videos, cooperative learning activities and written materials, participants gain an understanding of the resources available to them within the agency and with community partners. Attendance is mandatory for new CSD support staff. One focus of the curriculum is to look at family strengths and preservation issues, with the goal of preventing an out of home placement. Recognizing that out of home placements are necessary in the spectrum of services offered by Children's Services Division, the training also focuses on issues of separation and loss, both in relation to developmental issues, and more immediate responses affecting a transition from home to foster care.