Support for Foster Families
When children need to be removed from their biological homes to keep them safe, they need to find loving, supportive homes where they can heal and adjust to these changes. In Massachusetts, foster parents are supported by MSPCC’s Kid’s Net Program, a network of counselors who help foster parents understand and manage the needs of children who have been removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect. Kid’s Net also provides respite care for the families and recreational experiences that families enjoy together.
MSPCC also supports the Massachusetts Alliance For Families (MAFF), an organization of foster parents who advocate for the rights of foster children and families.
Support for Kinship Caregivers
MSPCC’s KINnections provides support and respite for grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other kin raising children. In the Greater Boston area, MSPCC’s KINnections for grandparents raising their grandchildren offers support groups, informational resources, and camp scholarships.
Learn more about our KINnections successes here.
Adoption Services
When children cannot be returned to their biological families, MSPCC’s Adoption Services facilitates the adoption process for these foster children by screening and providing training for prospective adoptive parents, conducting home visits, and helping to match children and families. Post-adoption, MSPCC’s Adoptive Families Together offers continued training, education, and support for adoptive parents.
ENCOMPASS: Community and Collaboration for Foster Families
ENCOMPASS serves foster families in the Central MA area. Each family is matched with a Peer Trauma Coach who works with the foster parents to understand how trauma affects a child and to make sense of a child’s behaviors and feelings. With insight as to why children behave the way they do, foster parents are more effective in helping a child cope with trauma. Caregivers also have the opportunity to network with other foster parents as part of a virtual group designed to further enhance trauma informed parenting skills and encourage peer-to-peer discussions. Additionally, ENCOMPASS engages and mobilizes community volunteers, including friends and family members, to play a role in supporting foster parents by giving of their time and donating tangible goods. Community Support Volunteers provide a menu of supports to foster parents including virtual enrichment activities, meal delivery, and themed boxed donations. Learn more about ENCOMPASS here.
The Behavioral Health Support Program
The Behavioral Health Support Program (BHSP) is a referral-based service that uses peer-to-peer mentoring to help stabilize foster families (including kinship, child-specific, and pre-adoptive) who are navigating a rising level of need or crisis in their homes. Learn more about the The Behavioral Health Support Program here.
Online Foster Care Training Videos
Check out these online training videos for foster parents aimed at helping them to understand substance use disorders and the impact on children in foster care, their parents, and foster parents. See all the videos here.