205 ST- Legal Issues in Child Welfare: 12 hours

This two-day curriculum is developed to enhance the child protection workers basic understanding of the court process in Child in Need of Aid (CINA) cases. The course is designed to build upon skills learned in the Training and Orientation of New Employees (TONE), and to further develop the workers ability to navigate the court system to better serve the families involved in the child protection system. Each worker will be asked to testify in a mock trial. This mock cross-examination will be videotaped for 10 minutes to enhance the workers learning experience. The training is offered to workers upon completion of the core trainings, approximately 6-12 months after being hired.

215 ST- Case Planning:

Structured Decision Making (SDM) tools help focus the case plan.
This training reviews the SDM tools and how those appraisals help prioritize the case plan concern statements and objectives as well as assess the protective capacities inherent in the families OCS works with. Involving families in the case planning process is important; they should be involved in the development of appropriate; time limited case goals and objectives. Policy & Procedure, regarding case planning, is reviewed in this training.

229 ST- Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA): 12 hours

The Specialized ICWA training is mandatory training for all OCS social work employees. It builds upon the foundation information presented in the Family & Youth Services Training Academy (FYSTA) TONE Basic ICWA training. All social work staff who have completed TONE and Core 103/104 should attend within six to eighteen months of hire.

• History of ICWA
• Definitions within ICWA
• Tribal Courts in Alaska
• Rights of Tribes and Indian Custodians
• Placement Issues
• Custody Proceedings
• Adoption Issues
• State Tribal Agreements
  

239 ST- Advanced Intensive Sexual Abuse Interviewing Skills: 18 hours

This is a mandatory training for all OCS SW I-V’s who have worked a minimum of six months and have completed TONE, and CORE 103 and 104. The training introduces forensic interviewing skills to the OCS worker and their law enforcement/judicial partners. It will develop knowledge, understanding, awareness, and skills for interviewing children who are the alleged victims of child sexual abuse. While this training targets child sexual abuse, it is practical and applies to all other types of abuse cases requiring forensic interviews. The training is a combination of lecture, group discussion, and other activities. Each trainee will demonstrate forensic interviewing skills gained in the training by conducting a thirty-minute videotaped "mock" interview with an adult actor posing as a child victim. In addition to directly increasing worker skills, this training will increase statewide consistency and create a common language when approaching forensic interviews of children.

240 ST- Advanced Intensive Sexual Abuse Interviewing Skills Refresher: 2 hours

A refresher on the skills and methodologies instructed in 239 AISAIS.

262 ST - Substance Abusing Families

This course, first available in FY05, is designed to give the more advanced CPS worker training in issues of substance abuse and the concurrent dynamics within families with substance abusing problems. Particular attention is paid to how to case plan with the families, safety issues for the children and understanding of the clinical aspect of substance abuse.