Vol. 8, No. 1• November 2003

Foster Parents as MAPP/GPS Trainers

by John McMahon

When you’re thinking about buying a particular type of car, you talk to people you know and trust who own that type of car. They can tell you about the car’s strong points and weaknesses based on their personal experience, not on what it says in the manual or in some online review. Honest testimony from someone who’s been there is one of the best ways to make such an important decision.

This is even truer when you’re contemplating taking the life-changing step of becoming a foster or adoptive parent. In fact, that’s why the Child Welfare Institute, which developed MAPP/GPS (the curriculum North Carolina uses to prepare foster and adoptive parents), strongly recommends this course be co-taught by a foster parent and an agency representative.

Up until recently, however, courses for our state’s prospective foster and adoptive parents have been taught almost exclusively by DSS social workers. In most cases, MAPP trainees got to speak with and meet foster and adoptive parents during just a few of the course’s 30 training hours. The primary reason for this was that to co-lead MAPP, foster parents had to attend a certification course held on weekdays during working hours. These times just don’t work for most foster parents.

To fix the problem, the NC Division of Social Services now offers a MAPP certification course for foster parents that takes place in seven days clustered around two weekends. The course is offered on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of one week and then on a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday approximately two weeks later. It is hoped that this schedule is will enable foster parents to attend the course without having to take too much time off work.

The new course worked for Miles Hamrick. An adoptive and foster parent with the Charlotte-based agency Another Choice for Black Children, Mr. Hamrick was certified to co-lead MAPP at the end of February 2003. Since then he’s taught two sections of MAPP, both of which he found very rewarding.

“I enjoy helping people learn about what it’s like to be a foster and an adoptive parent,” he says. Mr. Hamrick says the hardest thing about teaching MAPP is remembering all of the content in the course, but “it’s wonderful to be able to answer their questions and to see their expressions and hear their feedback after class.”

To foster and adoptive parents thinking about becoming certified to teach MAPP Mr. Hamrick says, “If you have the time, you won’t regret it. It’s a wonderful chance to spread your love and your knowledge.”

This course helps foster parents hone their training and presentation skills in addition to preparing them to teach on topics related to foster care and adoption.

The course will be offered next on January 8–11 and 23–25, 2004 in the Raleigh area. There is no registration fee, although participants or the agency sponsoring them must pay for hotel, travel, and food expenses. To attend this course you must have at least two years experience as a foster parent. For more information or to register, contact Clarence Lamb of the NCDSS Staff Development Team (919/733-7672).

Copyright � 2003 Jordan Institute for Families