Power, Partnership, and Effective Foster Care Programs

Foster Care Coordinators are vastly important: they recruit, license, train, and support the resource families on which the entire child welfare system relies. Yet they sometimes find their work undervalued, misunderstood, or even hampered by others in their own agencies. During this day-long workshop we will reflect on the challenges and opportunities presented by this predicament and explore skills and strategies to help you create the partnerships and positive changes needed to build and sustain an effective foster care program.

Presenter Information:

Deborah Vassar, MSW, Clinical Instructor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work. Debbie’s professional interests include family-centered services, organizational development, teambuilding, and process consulting. Before coming to the University, Debbie worked in Social Service Departments in Virginia both as a caseworker and a Child Welfare supervisor. She has also worked with executives, managers, support personnel and employees in a variety of public, nonprofit, and for-profit settings. Her consultation, training and coaching, both nationally and internationally, has focused on enhanced communication skills and ethical and quality improvement issues directed toward improving morale and teambuilding.

John McMahon, MA, Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work. Creator of training and educational materials for social workers and foster and adoptive parents since 1993, he is the editor of the newsletter Fostering Perspectives (www.fosteringperspectives.org) and Treat Them Like Gold: A Best Practice Guide to Partnering with Resource Families.