TIPS-MAPP
TIPS-MAPP is a group training model program that utilizes 15 tools designed to help prospective adoptive/foster parents understand the difference between the desire to help and making the commitment to bring children into their home. Leader's use the tools to help inform participants about the child welfare system and the role of foster parents, develop the necessary skills to become a successful foster/adoptive parent and assess families to determine if they are a positive fit for the role of a foster parent and for their agency.
Deciding Togther
Deciding Together (DT) is a one-on-one version of preparation and selection program. It was designed for families that were unable to attend the TIPS-MAPP group sessions due to rural locations, work schedules, or smaller agencies that may only have one or two applicant families.
DT Leaders work with the families on a one-to-one basis during seven 2-hour consultations to make a mutual decision about the family's readiness to become a foster or adoptive family. The parents will complete guidebooks based on the MAPP Leader's direction.
The material and activities in the workbooks align with the information presented in the TIPS-MAPP group process. In each guidebook the Leader will instruct the parents to skip certain activities that will be completed during the family consultations so that the Leader can gauge the family's reactions, responses, and questions in a more spontaneous, unrehearsed manner. These activities will serve as an assessment tool for the Leader.
