This session will focus on the importance of engaging caregivers and hearing their stories as a critical tool in supporting and achieving permanency. Parents, like children, need strong, positive connections and support in order to heal from their trauma and increase their overall well-being. Loving and supporting parents, as much as we do children served, is an underutilized tool that needs to be enhanced and increased.

This session will also address the power of listening and understanding the parents’ story in creating connection and providing hope. It will discuss hope as a strategy to assist parents as they navigate the child welfare system and work to achieve their goals. Specific skills and tools will be shared to start making small changes that will improve and enhance interaction with parents. The role and benefit of parent voice will be presented as a mechanism to make system improvements.

OBJECTIVES

Participants will do the following:

• Gain an understanding that cultivating connection and authentic engagement with parents is instrumental in achieving permanency for children
• Increase understanding of the power of hope in working with parents and caregivers
• Learn basic skills and tools to better engage parents, including the benefit of parent voice