Blog
Back to School!
Posted by Steve Holt on August 16, 2010 at 7:42 am
An annual first-day-of-school ritual at our house when our boys were young was to follow them down to the bus stop at the end of our street and take pictures of them and their friends until the bus arrived. Can’t you imagine how much fun they thought that was? We stopped doing that when they started to college.
Well, it’s that time of year again. Bus stops everywhere will be atwitter with kids eager to get this summer vacation thing over with and once again hit the books. And Moms everywhere will cry their eyes out to lose the noise and companionship of their little darlings.
But children aren’t the only ones who lap up every opportunity to learn. The staff and foster parents of Christian Homes & Family Services are privileged (and may I add, required by law) to continue their education.
Our social workers must attend a certain number of hours of training in the form of seminars and workshops to maintain their licenses. According to Bob Parkhill, CHFS’s VP for Social Services, “State requirements are that caseworkers, supervisors, and foster parents have at least 20 hours of training annually. Thirty percent of that may be obtained online or through self-directed learning. The remainder must be through instructor-lead training. We get those through conferences or CEU (continuing education units) courses at universities. Occasionally, the state will provide training opportunities or require them as related to foster care. We must provide behavioral intervention training, CPR & First Aid training annually.”
Oh, but that’s not all. Special learning opportunities happen pretty regularly for all staff members. For example, Christian Homes staff from Tyler, Fort Worth and Austin joined the Abilene staff for a fun three days at Camp Mouseketeer in June. Our president, Sherri Statler, worked hard to provide a relaxed yet purposeful camp session dealing with the question, “What will it take for Christian Homes & Family Services to be the first choice in Christian adoption?” We even got to wear Mickey Mouse ears. Later this month, our staff participates in “Defensive Driving on the Digital Highway” which will cover a range of information relating to confidentiality and privacy issues. And ongoing internet training is constantly available (and required) through Netsmart University covering a wide range of topics beneficial to this agency’s mission.
So, kids aren’t the only ones lucky enough to relight the lamp of learning for another season. The staff at Christian Homes & Family Services is always engaged in learning new things and honing our skills so that we can remain the premier adoption, foster and maternity care agency in Texas and Oklahoma. And we don’t even have to ride a bus.
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