Monday, April 19, 2010

5 Things You'll Like About PS-MAPP

Before you become a foster parent in Iowa, you're required to take a 30-hour series of classes over 10 weeks called PS-MAPP. It stands for Partnering for Safety and Permanency - a Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting. Or in simpler words, a class to prepare you for foster or adoptive parenting.

30 hours, you say? That's a lot! It is a lot, but those 30 hours will prepare you to impact a child's life in a way that lasts forever. And I think that's a pretty good return on the investment of your time, don't you? :)

Here's 5 things you'll like about PS-MAPP.

1. You'll find out who the kids are. You'll learn about why children enter the foster care system and the reasons behind why they need a home, whether that's a temporary foster home or possibly a permanent home through adoption. You may even get to hear from local teens in foster care about their personal experience.

2. You'll learn why foster and adoptive parents are so special. You'll get a better understanding of what makes a foster parent or adoptive parent role so unique. For example, foster parents not only have the opportunity to change the life of a child, but they can have a profound impact on a child's parents as well by being a positive role model.

3. Class can actually be fun. We do hear from most participants that they have fun with the training. Part of that, our trainers say, is because the classes are team-taught in an interactive way with a social worker and experienced foster or adoptive parent as your leaders.

4. You'll get plenty of names for future babysitters. PS-MAPP helps you build a network of support. You'll be sharing your class experience with other individuals who probably have many of the same questions, concerns and hopes that you do. It's a great opportunity to build new friendships with other parents - parents who may someday be able to provide respite care for you as a fellow foster parent.

5. A chance to make an informed decision. PS-MAPP class is not only training for foster care, but an opportunity to give you all the information you need to decide if foster care or adoption is right for your family. No matter what you decide, it should be a worthwhile experience. You'll have learned a lot of valuable information about yourself and your family that will be useful no matter what you do going forward.


Here's what a few families have said about PS-MAPP class:

"It's eye-opening and helps prepare you."
"It will change your perception of fostering and adoption."
"The time is worth the knowledge gained."
"The information learned can be used in many life situations."
"It helps you build relationships with other parents."
"A must-do if you want to be an effective and positive foster parent."

Are you ready to be a foster parent? Take a self-assessment, and find out.

What do you think about PS-MAPP? How did it help prepare you for foster parenting? Or, what kinds of things would you want to learn about foster parenting in your classes?

4 comments:

PR said...

Don't believe everything they tell you either. These people steal children and lie through their teeth.

Legally Kidnapped

BEVERLY TRAN said...

I have found that foster parent classes, typically funded through the Annie Cassey Foundation, are presented through false research and perceptions.

Foster parenting classes promote the concept that parents of children under the care of the state are "not good people" because they are poor or have medical needs, formulating the reason why children are in care as poverty is considered child abuse.

I have seen, first hand experience that foster parenting classes prepare the prospective foster parent for adoption instead of reunification.

Until I see a balance and open participation in the development and facilitation of foster parenting classes, including full disclosure to the funding source (i.e. Annie Casey Foundation) I question the entire legitimacy of all operations of the child placing agency holding foster parenting classes.

Beverly Tran
An Original Source

joe said...

I must respectfully disagree with Beverly. PS/MAPP teaches resource families that the goal of foster parenting is first and foremost to reunite the family. PS/MAPP also teaches folks that partnering with birthparents when possible is the best for everyone involved, especially the children.
Through the licensing process (PS/MAPP, meeting with a social worker, etc.) families learn the reasons why children are removed from their parents. They have discussions about risk and safety. Never is it suggested that birthfamilies lose custody due to poverty.
I agree that in society at large people often have misperceptions about why children come into care. However, the classes are designed to challenge these perceptions and teach families the reality.

BEVERLY TRAN said...

I embrace your position but am sadden with your lack of information expressed in this opinion.

It is not suggested that original guardians lose custody due to poverty, it is mandated through statutory codification and eligibility criteria of social assistance programming.

Please review the federal and state supportive audits and reports I have taken the time to collect.

Anything I state is supported with finding of fact and conclusion of law.

This is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General Audit of 2004 finding questionable and improper costs of administration.

If you do not understand the levels of child welfare fraud demonstrated in the federal audit for Iowa, here are $2,495,948 reasons to disprove your opinion. Please keep in mind that this is only a small sample of state activities in child welfare.

Iowa code 232.68(d) explicitly states in part:

d. The failure on the part of a person responsible for the care of a child to provide for the adequate food, shelter, clothing or other care necessary for the child's health and welfare when financially able to do so or when offered financial or other reasonable means to do so.

The application of the code is left to the practioner's interpretation, universally accepted as poverty.

It is my mission to educate "society at large" by lifting the iron veil of child welfare.

Beverly Tran
An Original Source

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