Training is an essential step in helping prospective community foster and adoptive families have a better understanding of the best ways to care for children who have experienced trauma and how to work successfully with the Arizona child welfare system.

Once your family begins working with AASK and your Intake is complete, a dedicated Family Specialist will be assigned to partner with you on the journey to becoming a foster or adoptive parent. They will help you select a Foster Parent College training class that fits your schedule and assist with your enrollment.

Foster Parent College is an interactive training course consisting of 5 virtual meetings (generally held once a week for 5 weeks) coupled with 4 clusters of online training videos that are viewed by each foster parent in between the meetings. The schedule of meetings includes options for weeknight classes, daytime classes, and Saturday classes. Topics covered include Understanding Behaviors, Trauma-Informed Parenting, Child Development, Parent-Child Attachment, and the Child Welfare System.

The meetings are taught by a member of the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) Learning and Development team; however, AASK is always available to discuss topics of concern, answer questions, or assist with your learning.

If you still need to sign up with a licensing agency, click HERE to get started with AASK!

If you have questions about training, please contact TRAINING@AASK-AZ.ORG

AASK offers training specific to the needs of kinship families. Kinship training is taught by an experienced AASK Kinship team member and consists of one session with an AASK trainer coupled with three online videos. Contact AASK at Contact AASK at kinshipinfo@AASK-AZ.ORG for more information regarding kinship training and licensing.