Quality Parenting Initiative
The Quality Parenting Initiative (QPI) is a collaborative effort between the California Department of Social Services, the Youth Law Center (YLC) and the Child Welfare Director's Association. This initiative was originally launched with philanthropic support from the Stuart Foundation, Taproot Foundation, Walter S. Johnson Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, David P. Gold Foundation, May and Stanley Smith Charitable Trust and The California Endowment. As of October 2016, the following 23 counties are participating in California, and join over 50 jurisdictions nationwide: Del Norte, Glenn, Fresno, Humboldt, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Napa, Orange, San Diego, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Shasta, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tulare, Tuolumne, Ventura.
When parents can't care for their children, the foster or relative family must be able to provide the loving, committed, skilled care that the child needs, while working effectively with the system to achieve the best possible permanency option for that child. Both the caregiver's parenting skills and the system's policies and practices should be based on child development research, information and tools.
The QPI is an approach to strengthening foster care, by refocusing on excellent parenting for all children in the child welfare system. It is an effort to rebrand foster care, not simply by changing a logo or an advertisement, but by changing the expectations of and support for foster parents and other caregivers. The purpose of the initiative is to develop a statewide approach to recruiting and retaining high-quality caregivers to provide excellent care to children in California's child welfare system. This program defines and articulates (i.e., the brand statement) the expectations of caregivers, aligning the system so that those goals can become a reality. When these changes are accomplished, the new brand becomes the basis for developing communication materials and designing integrated recruitment, training and retention systems
When QPI is successful, caregivers have a voice, not only in issues that affect the children they are caring for, but also in the way the system treats children and families. Caregivers, agency staff and birth parents work as a team to support children and youth. Caregivers receive the support and training they need to work with children and families and know what is expected as well as what to expect. QPI communities have formed a network that shares information and ideas about how to improve parenting, recruit and retain excellent families. They develop policies and practices that are based on current child research to support skilled loving parenting. Systems are then able to select and retain enough excellent caregivers to meet the needs of each child for a home and family.
The Resource Family Approval (RFA) process improves the way caregivers, both related and non-related, for children in foster care are approved and prepared to parent vulnerable children, whether temporarily or permanently. The QPI partners with caregivers in helping to design child welfare organizations at the local level to better recruit, support and retain quality foster caregivers who can effectively parent vulnerable children and youth.
A critical component to recruitment is retention of foster care and adoptive families. QPI contributes to retention as it gives agencies and caregivers the ability to come together to share ideas, experiences, expectations, as well as the highs and lows in a way that is neutral and supportive. It also gives caregivers a more powerful voice that they often do not have when they attempt to advocate for themselves or their children with the courts, child welfare agencies, and school systems. The QPI teams developed specific expectations for high quality caregiving and the responsibilities of the caregiver and county child welfare agency to achieve that quality. Strategies for improved retention of caregivers are being worked on by the QPI sites. County efforts include revised orientation, more robust trainings (both pre-service and ongoing), mentoring programs that include paid stipends and mileage reimbursement, joint trainings to existing caregivers and social workers, and contracts with mediation agencies to evaluate communication concerns. The counties believe that current caregivers are also the best recruiters. Focus is relationship-building between caregivers and community partners, providing caregivers with a forum to voice their concerns through steering committees and regional trainings, and foster parent ambassadors in each region.
To further assist in the recruitment and retention of high-quality caregivers, the Foster Parent Recruitment, Retention, and Support (FPRRS) funding has been made available for counties to invest in activities for this purpose. Counties have the flexibility to develop and implement a wide range of activities using these funds. Activities have included: Staffing to provide and improve direct services and supports to caregivers; Child’s needs not covered by the caregiver-specific rate that would normalize the child’s experience, stabilize the placement or enhance the child’s well-being; Child care; Intensive relative finding, engagement and navigation efforts; and Emerging technological, evidence-informed or other nontraditional approaches to outreach to potential caregivers.
The California QPI website was launched on February 1, 2015. The site, www.QPICalifornia.org, has valuable information regarding the QPI program, the Partnership Agreement, and Just‐In‐Time trainings. The QPI California website is connected to the other QPI state websites, will be maintained and coordinated by CalSWEC, and planning is in process to integrate the QPI information into the social worker training.