Module Six: Working as a Professional Team Member

Session 1: Strengthening Teamwork Skills
We look at the concept of teamwork and discover through exercises the importance of working as a team. We investigate the five steps in decision making. We look at our role, our rights and responsibilites as foster parents and how we can communicate effectively with other members of the child welfare team. We explore how to participate effectively in meetings and reviews that are part of the permanency planning process.

Session 2: Developing Your Professional Role
We look at our role as professionals, our strengths and our position as advocates. We examine how to comply with the agency policy regarding confidentiality and how to access the service appeal system. We explore our role in documenting a child's history. We also assess our own strengths and needs for support.

Session 3: Conflict as Opportunity
We explore how we feel about conflict and how those feelings affect our behavior. We'll learn about the positive functions of conflict and study different styles for managing conflict. We'll apply team collaboration skills as a positive way of handling conflict.