MAPP stands for Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting. Every potential foster or adoptive parent is required to complete MAPP training before a child can be placed in their home. The goal of the ten week seminar is to help you and your family decide whether or not fostering a child is right for you.

The program guides potential applicants through the complex issues they will face as Foster/Resource parents. Through carefully designed activities, parents see firsthand the challenges of fostering. Using both group and individual exercises, leaders help parents decide if their expectations and abilities match the realities of fostering. Mutual preparation and selection enable parents and TFI Family Services to build the basis of teamwork toward permanency for children and their families.  Partnerships in parenting become partnerships for permanency. When Foster/Resource parents understand the needs of children and their families, it is more likely that permanency will be achieved. This program enables Foster/Resource parents to work more effectively with children and their families in the child welfare system.

Who can attend?  For more information on the necessary qualifications to be a Foster/Resource parent in the state of Kansas, please request TFI Family Services’s “Becoming a Foster/Resource parent” brochure or click here. MAPP training is open to all qualified potential Foster/Resource parents. Please note that both parents in the household are required to complete training before becoming a licensed foster care provider.

Am I obligated to be a Foster/Resource parent after completing MAPP training?  No. Some potential Foster/Resource parents realize during the seminar that Foster/Resource parenting would not be right for them. There is absolutely no obligation to become a Foster/Resource parent after completing the seminar. As an additional benefit, almost all participants have claimed that MAPP training has helped them become better parents to their own children.

When do the classes take place?  New MAPP classes begin every few weeks or months, depending upon instructor availability and demand from the community. Meetings last three hours per week for ten consecutive weeks.

Where are the classes located?  TFI Family Services is proud to sponsor MAPP trainings all over the state of Kansas. Check our schedule at the top of this page to see the latest dates and locations. There might be a class starting soon in your own community!

How do I find out more information or register for MAPP training?  Interested applicants can call our Foster Care Preparation Specialist toll-free at 1-800-279-9914.  And remember to keep checking this website in the future for more information about MAPP training, including dates and locations of upcoming seminars.

The first meeting acquaints leaders and participants with each other. The process of fostering is explained, including an outline and discussion of the roles and responsibilities of Foster/Resource parenting.

The second meeting is an overview of a foster care experience from the perspectives of clients (children and parents), Foster/Resource parents and child welfare workers. It demonstrates the stresses and losses which can lead to foster care placement, what happens if a placement does not work out, how families are reunited, and how some youth in foster care move into adoption or independent living.

The third meeting explores the impact of separation on the growth and development of children, and the impact of foster care on the emotions and behaviors of children and parents. It examines personal losses (death, divorce, infertility, children leaving home) and how difficult life experiences can affect success.

Meeting four explores attachment and child development, focusing on how attachments are formed and the special needs of foster children (especially in building self-concept and appropriate behavior). It discusses the partnership roles of Foster/Resource parents and child welfare workers in helping children form new attachments.

Meeting five discusses techniques for managing behavior, with an emphasis on alternatives to physical punishment. Topics include special issues in discipline for children who have been neglected or physically/sexually abused. Techniques to be discussed include being a "behavior detective," reinforcement, time out, mutual problem solving, setting limits, negotiating, and contracting.

Meeting six examines the importance of helping children in care maintain and build upon their identity, self-concept, and connections. It considers issues such as how cultures and ethnic backgrounds help shape identity, the connections children risk losing when they enter care, and why contact with birth families and previous foster families is important.

Meeting seven discusses family reunification as the primary goal, as well as alternatives like foster care, adoption, and independent living. It examines disruption and its impact on children and families. This meeting also focuses on the partnership role of child welfare workers, Foster/Resource parents, and adoptive parents in helping children move into permanent placement or independent living.

In the previous meetings we discussed and "felt" the foster care experience from a foster child’s perspective. But what is the impact of all this effort on the foster families themselves? Meeting eight discusses how this experience might affect their marriage, children, relatives, friends, job, and income.

This meeting is open to all members of prospective foster families, especially children, grandparents, close friends--anyone who will play a major role in the foster family. It features foster families and guest speakers who will talk about their personal experiences. Some of the topics include: the impact of fostering on marriage and family, visiting parents, discipline, helping children with family reunification, and making foster placements work.

The goal of meeting ten will be to assess group members' strengths and needs as Foster/Resource parents. There also will be some time to say good-bye....the ending. As the preparation process comes to an end, so begins the transition into becoming a foster family....the beginning.