-
Bond with children during
visits
-
-
-
Rise parent groups
Rise is working with several NYC child welfare agencies to use Rise stories in parent engagement and support:
Rise-Children’s Aid Society Parent Engagement Pilot Project - Rise collaborated with staff at New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), Children’s Aid Society and Columbia University School of Social Work to develop a project to improve how foster care agencies engage and support parents. Parents are typically expected to deal with strange and difficult new circumstances—visiting in agency visit rooms, connecting with foster parents, and preparing for reunification—with little support or guidance. Rise has trained staff and parent advocates at Children’s Aid Society to:
-
Distribute copies
One Step at a Time, a Rise booklet that uses stories to educate parents about the child welfare process;
-
Integrate stories from Building a Bridge, our workbook on parent-foster parent relationships , into foster parents training;
-
Run three 6-week parent discussion groups using Rise workbooks. One group, based on the workbook A Time to Bond, is on making the most of visits; a second, based on Building a Bridge, is on improving communication with foster parents; a third, based on ‘It Won’t Happen Again,’ will prepare parents for the challenges of reunification.
This year-long project is being evaluated by a researcher at Columbia University School of Social Work.
Rise-ACS Agency Training Project for Foster Parent Training - Through ACS Family Permanency Services, Rise is training agencies to use Building a Bridge in foster parent or parent supports. Agencies that make a plan to use the stories receive free workbooks from ACS. St. Vincent’s Services in Brooklyn has begun its first group.
Rise-CWOP-Mt. Sinai Family Reunification Group - Staff of Rise, Child Welfare Organizing Project and Mt. Sinai Hospital worked together to adapt a proven program to support families with emotionally disturbed children so that it can be used effectively with families reunifying after foster care placement. Rise stories form the basis of a dozen parent-only sessions.
Rise training
Rise’s director and parent leaders are available to:
- Train agency staff to run parent support groups about visits, parent-foster parent communication and reunification.
- Work with staff to integrate Rise parenting skills stories into parent education classes.
- Train caseworkers to use stories in one-on-one work with their clients.
- Lead agency training/work with training directors to use stories as clinical tools for deepening staff understanding of their clients and problem-solving together about how to work with clients.
- Support agency-based parent advocates in developing orientations using Rise stories.
Click here to see Rise's training fees.
Please contact Rise Director Nora McCarthy at (718) 260-8818 or nora@risemagazine.org to learn more about Rise training.
(back to top)
