For over two decades the PRIDE Model of Practice has increased opportunities for child welfare agencies to provide a standardized, consistent, structured framework for the competency-based recruitment, preparation, assessment and selection of foster and adoptive (resource) parents, and for foster parent in-service training and ongoing professional development. The PRIDE Model of Practice is used, in whole or in part, across the United States and in more than 25 countries.
This 14-step model of practice to develop and support foster and adoptive families as team members in child protection and trauma-informed care of children is designed to strengthen the quality of family foster care and adoption services by:
• Clarifying the role of resource families in support of your agency’s vision and mission and as integral members of your agency’s team
• Educating communities about the importance of resource families
• Recruiting families based on a strengths/needs, comprehensive plan
• Providing both in-person and hybrid in-person/online, pre-service training with information and skill building around Five Core Competencies
• Integrating pre-service training as an essential component of the mutual family assessment (home study) process
• Selecting resource families based on the Five Core Competencies
• Matching children with licensed (approved, certified, verified) resource families
• Creating family development plans to guide ongoing professional development of foster parents
• Providing in-service training and other essential supports
• Ending relationships with resource families using a strengths-based approach and a quality assurance process
Implementing the PRIDE Model of Practice provides your agency with the opportunity to ensure that your staff and resource families commit to your agency’s vision, mission, and values; have complementary competency-based roles; use strengths-based language; implement culturally responsive best practices; and work to achieve outcomes that support safety, well-being, and permanency for the children in your care.
Five Core Competencies
The PRIDE Model of Practice is built upon five core competency categories developed through comprehensive role analysis:
• Protecting and nurturing children;
• Meeting children’s developmental needs and addressing their delays;
• Supporting relationships with birth families;
• Connecting children to safe, nurturing relationships intended to last a lifetime (permanency); and
• Working as a member of a professional team.
RESOURCES & LICENSE PROGRAM
The PRIDE Model of Practice is offered in both an all in-person edition and a hybrid in-person/online edition to meet the needs of diverse families and agency resources. Please see the links below for additional information. All CWLA materials have a copyright, therefore a license progam is available that entitles an agency to make unlimited copies of the CWLA produced PRIDE Model of Practice resource materials.
TRAINING & CONSULTATION
CWLA offers training and consultation to help agencies implement the PRIDE Model of Practice, typically in one of two ways:
(1) CWLA staff come to your licensed agency and work with all staff responsible for family foster care and adoption services. Consultation begins with administrative leadership because training is only as effective as the policy that directs it and the supervision that reinforces the skills that are learned. Training is provided for staff responsible for recruitment, family assessment (home study), pre-service training, and selection of foster and adoptive parents, and for foster parent in-service training. Foster and adoptive parents who serve as co-trainers are included. Staff who match and place children with foster and adoptive parents also are included. This is the preferred technical assistance strategy to bring the PRIDE Model of Practice to your agency, because it assures that all members of the team are working from the same values and practice base, and as role reciprocals.
(2) CWLA offers open enrollment training around the country for licensed agency staff who work with foster and adoptive parents. This open enrollment is designed for agencies already using PRIDE and need to have new staff trained in the PRIDE Model of Practice.
The links below provide additional information on the PRIDE Model of Practice. For assistance with the PRIDE Model of Practice, please contact Marcus Stallworth, LMSW, Director, Training and Implementation or Gaelle Augustin, Training and Administration Associate.