Vol. 15, No. 1 • November 2010

Training for Child Welfare Agencies on Parent-Child Visitation

The Jordan Institute for Families, part of the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, works with state and local child welfare agencies to strengthen their practice in the area of parent-child visits. They have developed a number of training resources:

Making the Most of Visitation [classroom course]
In the Best Interest of the Child: Making The Most of Visitation is a two-day, family-centered, evidence-based training designed to help child welfare professionals enhance outcomes by improving the quality of visits between children in out-of home care and their parents. This curriculum explores:

• Visitation-related factors that influence children’s length of stay in care
• Techniques for using visitation as therapeutic process
• Assessment and observation tools
• Considerations for developing a visitation plan, and
• Ideas to help social workers navigate last visits for children and families.

Recommended for child welfare supervisors, social workers, social work assistants, in-home aids, and social work interns involved with facilitating visits.

Parent-Child Visits: An Opportunity for Change [webinar]
During this 90-minute webinar (online seminar) child welfare social workers and supervisors reflect on the dynamics of parent/child visits, explore the research, and apply practice skills that will help them use visits more effectively to inform case planning and facilitate timely reunification.

Maintaining Sibling Connections [webinar]
During this 90-minute webinar child welfare professionals consider the perspective of siblings who have spent in foster care, explore what the research says about the influence of siblings on well-being, and learn about tools and practice strategies that will help them promote child well-being by nurturing and maintaining healthy sibling bonds.

These learning resources are now available to child welfare agencies outside North Carolina. If your agency is interested in training on parent-child visitation, please contact the Jordan Institute's Ms. Lane Cooke ([email protected]; 919/962-3597). Discounts are available for the delivery of more than one of these learning events.

Copyright � 2010 Jordan Institute for Families