an overview georgia program improvement plan - Department of ...

Work Plan Detail F -- Item 10, Permanency Goal of Other Planned Permanent Living Arrangement
F1 ACTION STEPS: Enhance the content of MAPP training and annual training at the Foster Parent Institutes to include other roles
for foster parents to assist children in developing permanency living arrangements.
Evaluation: Survey sampling will reveal if training is successful.
START
DATE
COMPLETION
DATE
RESPONSIBLE
PERSON(S)
MEASURABLE
BENCHMARKS
Mar. 2002 Dec. 2002 Placement Resource Development Unit,
Jayne Bachman, Resource Development
Workers, TA: Ed Fuller
ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Foster parents will understand the difference between the
various permanency goals and all of their potential roles in
child's life (such as long-term foster care by agreement).
This action step is achieved. Multiple focus groups and training workshops have supported the need for ongoing training to foster
parents to discuss permanency plans. Emphasis on 'other planned living arrangement' has yielded an awareness and willingness to
explore this alternative for children. This will be an ongoing training workshop at future Foster Parent Development Institutes.
4 th Quarter Federal Response: The State reports that 'multiple focus groups and training workshops have supported the need for
ongoing training to foster parents to discuss permanency plans.' However, the actual goal of F1 is to 'enhance the content of MAPP
training and annual training at the Foster Parent Institute….' We need to know if State has actually enhanced the training, and if so, in
what ways.
5 th Quarter Report: When the State discusses enhancing MAPP Training it means that at the Foster Parent Institutes, and other State
sponsored training/conferences emphasis is placed on the 12 basic steps of MAPP knowing the developmental needs of children,
working in partnerships, etc. More importantly, in response to the changing complexities of fostering, the Foster Parent Institutes, the
Child Placement Conference, also emphasize supports available from the agency, clear understanding of the State's discipline policy,
HIPAA, ASFA, MEPA, IEPA, supervision and safety issues, explanation of cultural, ethnic and religious issues faced by the child as
well as the resource family to name a few.
8 th Quarter Report: Achieved. Per ACF 7 th quarter request to explain the change from MAPP to IMPACT: In July 2004 Georgia
implemented its new pre-service training called IMPACT. IMPACT was developed using the recommendations from a work-group,
which consisted of agency staff, community partners, private agencies and foster parents. The group identified pre-service training
needs for foster parents follows:
• The Fostering/Adoption Process – including supervision and safety issues for children in care; communication with the agency and
other foster care partners; the judicial/legal process; discipline policy requirements and behavior management; cultural, ethnic and
Safe Futures – A Plan for Program Improvement
Georgia Department of Human Resources
November, 2004 Quarter 8 - Work Plan F Page 1