The information in this program outline is provided by the program representative and edited by the CEBC staff. The PRIDE program has been reviewed by the CEBC in the areas of: Placement Stabilization and Resource Parent Recruitment and Training, but lacks the necessary research evidence to be given a Scientific Rating.

• Types of Maltreatment: Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Physical Neglect, Emotional Abuse, Exposure to Domestic Violence
• Target Population: Prospective foster and adoptive parents; and experienced foster parents.

PRIDE (Parent Resources for Information, Development, and Education) was developed with the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) through a collaboration of 14 state child welfare agencies, two national resource centers, and several universities and colleges. It is a model for the development and support of foster care and adoptive families that is used by private and public child welfare agencies in more than 30 states and at least 19 other countries. PRIDE is designed to strengthen the quality of foster care and adoption services by providing a standardized, structured process for recruiting, training, and selecting foster parents and adoptive parents. This 14-step model for delivering foster care services includes instructions and tools on how to implement the steps of the model and is described in the PRIDE Practice Handbook. CWLA offers training to managers, supervisors, workers, experienced foster parents, and staff on how to implement the model's practices.

Overview:

• PRIDE is a model for the delivery of foster care services, that includes training for foster parents and other child welfare professionals who help implement and support the model.
• The PRIDE Model is a 14-step process to develop and support resource families. Each step identifies a phase in building and maintaining a well-qualified group of foster and adoptive families prepared to achieve the five program goals (see below). The process begins by identifying needs, conducting effective recruitment, assessing and preparing applicants, and providing on-going support and training opportunities. The process for completing each step and related tools are contained in the manual: The PRIDE Practice Handbook. The Handbook is designed to help agencies manage systems issues that can impact negatively on foster care services.
• The PRIDE curricula meets the Child Welfare League of America's (CWLA's) Foster Care Practice Standards developed by a national advisory board of child welfare experts.

Five Program Goals:

It addresses 5 competency categories or goals that support Federal Standards concerned with promoting the health, safety, and well-being of children in foster care:

1. Protecting and nurturing children
2. Meeting children's developmental needs and addressing developmental delays
3. Supporting relationships between children and their families
4. Connecting children to safe, nurturing relationships intended to last a lifetime
5. Working as a member of a professional team.

Training for Child Welfare Professionals:

• It places the training within the context of the agency where it will be implemented, so that administrators can prepare the system to support the model.
• The program is competency-based. The training objectives were written based on an analysis of the knowledge and skills foster parents must have in order to fulfill their roles.
• The PRIDE Model integrates training with assessment. In most other models, this is not the case. In PRIDE, the assessment focuses on the five competencies. The subject matter of the assessment coincides with the content of the training sessions. From the sessions, families are encouraged to apply the information learned about their strengths and needs to their current and past actions. This approach promotes mutuality in the decision process; families are active participants in assessing their readiness to foster and what training or support they need to succeed.
• The program includes a Family Development Plan, which is both a process and a tool to assess the learning needs of foster parents on an ongoing basis, and match identified needs with competency-based training resources.
• Training for child welfare managers on how to change their systems to support changed practice.
• Training for child welfare workers who assess and prepare foster parents and adoptive parents using PRIDE processes and tools.
• Training in teamwork for child welfare workers so they can develop collaborative relationships with foster parents.

Foster Parent Trainings:

Finally there is training offered directly to foster parents and adoptive parents. That training is organized into four programs. These four programs for foster parent and adoptive parent training are based on a set of competencies and training objectives derived through multiple focus groups with foster parents and workers in several states.

• Pre-service training for applicant families, to provide knowledge and skills needed before one begins fostering or adopting. The pre-service component includes three videos designed to support learning: "Making A Difference" provides an overview of the foster care system and the foster parents' role, "PRIDE Vignettes" shows common behavioral problems of youth in care, which participants then discuss in the group training, and "Family Forever" shows birth parents, foster parents, and workers collaborating to reunite children with their families.
• Core training for new families, which addresses the basic competencies that all foster parents need to know; Nine Modules of the PRIDE Core, a total of 69 training hours, are now available in CD-ROM. The interactive program is intended to support "anytime, anywhere" learning. Foster parents can use the self-instructional discs at their home computers. Evaluation exercises are included throughout each module. Each module of Core includes evaluation tools for participants. Each participant completes an Action Plan detailing how he or she plans to use what he or she has learned in the next six months. Agencies are provided with a follow-up assessment form to send to participants to determine how well they did in completing their action plan.
• Specialized training for families caring for certain populations (ex. medically fragile infants).
• Advanced training for experienced families who care for children with very challenging needs.

PRIDE was designed with a child component that addresses the following presenting problems and symptoms:

• Effects of trauma.

Age range: 0 – 17

Developmental Delays:

This program was developed for children with developmental delays; but has not been tested for children with developmental delays.

PRIDE was designed with a parent/caregiver component that addresses the following presenting problems and symptoms:

• Have to be or want to be foster or adoptive parents.

PRIDE was designed to be conducted in a group setting; but has not been tested for use in a group setting.

Recommended group size:

15-20 individuals.

Recommended Intensity:

The pre-service module typically consists of one 3-hour session per week. Some agencies have delivered it successfully in two 3-hour sessions per week for a shorter duration of time. The Core, Specialized, and Advanced modules vary but typically consist of one 3-hour session per week, or two 3-hour sessions on a weekend.

Recommended Duration:

The program pre-service is a nine-week program for a total of 27 hours. However, it has been done in 4.5 weeks if two sessions a week are offered. The Core, Specialized, and Advanced modules vary in length. The shortest is one 3-hour session; the longest is four 3-hour sessions.

This program is typically conducted in a(n):

• Community Agency

PRIDE includes a homework component:

There is a tool called, "PRIDE Connection," included in each session. This is a tool that helps participants apply what they have learned in the session to the children in their homes. A participant then discusses his or her "PRIDE Connection," with the group at the beginning of the next session.

PRIDE has materials available in a language other than English:

Spanish

For information on which materials are available in this language, please check on the program's website or contact the program representative (contact information is listed at the bottom of this page).

The typical resources for implementing the program are:

• An experienced child welfare worker and an experienced foster parent or adoptive parent to run the foster parent trainings
• Space at tables for 15-30 participants
• A VCR and DVD player
• Monitor
• Easel stand
• Easel paper
  

There is no formal educational requirement. The program is designed to be co-taught by an agency child welfare worker and experienced foster parents. The model is based on the belief that foster parents have valuable knowledge, experience and skill to share with new families. Foster parent co-trainers vary in how much formal education they have. The workers who co-train are selected by their agency. They, too, vary in their educational level. It's recommended that both the foster parent and the staff co-trainers have several years of child welfare experience and are familiar with the specific content of the module. The beginning of the Trainer's Guide for each module lists the recommended qualifications to deliver that content.

There is a manual that describes how to implement this program, and there is training available for this program.

Training Contact:

• Lynda Arnold
  phone: (703) 412-3167

Training is obtained:

Onsite through contract with an agency; or through participation in open-enrollment courses offered in CA and various other states.

Number of days/hours:

For pre-service component: 3 to 6 days. To learn how to conduct a PRIDE training is 3 days. To learn how to do family assessments, an additional 3 days. For in-service: varies according to length of module.

This program has been reviewed and it was determined that this program lacks the type of published, peer-reviewed research that meets the CEBC criteria for a scientific rating of 1 – 5. Therefore, the program has been given the classification of "NR - Not able to be Rated." It was reviewed because it was identified by the topic expert as a program being used in the field, or it is being marketed and/or used in California with children receiving services from child welfare or related systems and their parents/caregivers. Some programs that are not rated may have published, peer-reviewed research that does not meet the above stated criteria or may have eligible studies that have not yet been published in the peer-reviewed literature. For more information on the "NR - Not able to be Rated" classification, please see the Scientific Rating Scale.

Child Welfare Outcomes: Not Specified

Currently, there are no published, peer-reviewed research studies for PRIDE.