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https://www.cognitoforms.com/CASA7OfIdaho/Session1TrainingEvaluation 

 Don't worry if you aren't comfortable with certain things yet or don't know the answers yet, I just want a way to track your progress through the course! :)

View the video “Interviewing Skills: Meeting with a Parent”. On your own, write down as many positive aspects of the household and positive interaction with Mrs. Bleux that you observe. You will not turn anything in.

Take a few moments to think about your own family. Write a sentence or two describing a strength or a weakness in your family (either your family of origin or your current family).

You know the question about whether the glass is half full or half empty? In your CASA/GAL volunteer work with families, you can ask yourself a similar question, focusing on the positive or the negative. If you look at a family through a “resource lens,” you focus on identifying the strengths. If you look through a “deficit lens,” you focus on the problems. All families have strengths and weaknesses.

Part 1: Read the information that follows about the differences between using a resource lens and using a deficit lens when working with families.

Part 1: Just as all families have strengths, at some point all families encounter challenges. Families unable to cope well are often isolated from resources, face a variety of challenges and are stressed by numerous problems that compound one another. Stress can become crisis— the family moves, a parent is laid off, childcare arrangements fall through, a new step family comes into being, the car breaks down, a child becomes ill, the rent goes up and so on.

The families you will encounter in your work as a CASA/GAL volunteer are, by definition, under stress and likely to be in crisis. Their involvement in the child welfare system, and the perceived threats to their parental rights serve to increase their stress. Some families cope well and adapt effectively to stress and crisis; others do not and become overwhelmed.

These families may develop patterns that lead to and then perpetuate abuse and…

Part 1: Which of the situations on this list would you find the hardest to work with? Make note of the three you’d find hardest. What are your “hot buttons”?

• A parent who spends most of her money on drugs.

• A parent who believes his wife/partner deserves the beatings he gives her.

• A parent who lies to you.

• A parent who lives in a deplorably dirty home with human/animal waste and no water.

• A parent who fondles his 4-year-old child.

Part 1: List three conditions that might cause parents to abuse or neglect their children. This is a brainstorm, so at this stage there are no right or wrong answers.

Part 2: View others’ responses and reply to at least one person’s post. Explain one or more of the conditions listed that might lead to abuse or neglect.

Read the material below on conditions that may lead to abuse and neglect. Think about the list you and your fellow participants generated in the previous activity, and circle any of the items below that also appeared in your online discussion.

The following link from from the World Health Organization details risk factors that may lead to abuse and neglect of children.

Child Maltreatment Key Facts

Part 1: Read the content below.

Part 2: Participate in the online discussion in this way:

Part 1: Read the scenario below and identify the risk factors present in the situation.

Part 2: In the online forum below, write a paragraph in which you identify the risk factors in this family's situation. What are two or three issues that you would like to know more about? What would you do next in this scenario?

Read the following information about mental illness.

In the online discussion forum below, post one question you have about mental illness and how it may impact a case and/or your advocacy for a child.