Last year, the Ohio General Assembly passed House Bill 8, state legislation we spearheaded that would streamline and revamp foster parent training requirements. Shortly after the bill passed, ODJFS released a Procedure Letter outlining the HB 8 implementation process, which would take place in two parts: the first to review the number of training hours required for foster parent licensure, and the second to review the training content.
Last year, phase 1 was completed and foster caregiver training hours were reduced to 24 hours for pre-placement, 30 for family foster homes, and 45 for specialized foster homes.
Phase 2 is about to take shape this month, as it was announced that a training workgroup will begin meeting soon and will partner with the work done by the Foster Care Advisory Group from a few years ago, as well as the Tiered Treatment Foster Care work.
This workgroup will focus on redesigning foster parent training within the reduced hour requirements established in Phase 1. The vision of this group is to:
determine if any changes need to be made to preservice training topics
structure a foster parent CORE series for caregivers’ first certification period that effectively builds on what is learned in preservice
determine if any changes need made beyond the first certification period
ODJFS has reported that they would like to see the group will complete the tasks above in roughly 3 months.