LEXINGTON, Ky. – This May, the University of Kentucky College of Social Work (CoSW) honors National Foster Care Month, recognizing the contributions of child welfare professionals, caregivers, and communities in supporting children, youth, and families across the country.
Nationally, just over 365,000 children and youth in foster care. In Kentucky, just over 8,000 children have been placed in out-of-home care.
This month, we focus on the impact that relational connections have on improving long-term well-being for children and youth in foster care and the importance of providing concrete supports, appropriate interventions, and opportunities for youth.
At the CoSW, we offer many programs that help support foster families across the Commonwealth. Learn more and how to get involved in these programs below.
Adoption Support for Kentucky (ASK) is an award-winning program that utilizes innovative training modalities and inclusive support group practices to meet the needs of foster, adoptive, relative, and fictive-kin caregivers throughout the Commonwealth.
Earn and Learn is an initiative sponsored by the Department for Community Based Services that supports current and former foster youth in boosting their earning potential through the completion of short-term training programs.
The Foster Parent Mentor Program specializes in one-on-one, short-term, intensive coaching relationships, which provide newly approved foster parents emotional encouragement, skill reinforcement, and parenting strategies unique to providing out-of-home care to enhance the quality of care provided and stabilize placements.
Foster Parent Training Program
The Foster Parent Training Program (FPTP) uses a collaborative approach to provide an array of training and support services for foster parents in Kentucky. The FPTP designs relevant, comprehensive curricula to address the unique needs of foster youth through ongoing, elective foster parent training credit.
Fostering Success is a 10-week workforce development initiative sponsored by the Department for Community Based Services that provides current and former foster youth the opportunity to participate in a paid internship, while receiving professional development and career planning support. The goal of the program is to provide participants an opportunity to develop the skills necessary to excel in the emerging workforce.
For more information and to see more resources offered for foster and adoptive families, please visit the Training Resource Center website.
