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"Children in foster care need devoted and skilled foster parents to helpthem face difficult challenges on a daily basis," commented Elena Dwyre, StateExecutive Director for Dockside. "The parents who care for these high riskchildren must be provided with the tools to successfully accomplish theirjobs. We also believe in treating foster parents as professionals, givingthem the support they need to excel, in anticipation of the highest standardsof practice."
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The Professional Foster Parenting Program takes a multifaceted approach tofoster care, by increasing the knowledge and expectations of the fosterparents and by increasing the amount and nature of support and contact bystaff. Professional Foster Parents with Dockside receive specialized trainingin working with juvenile sex offenders, working with victims of sexual abuse,reactive attachment disorder, conduct disorder, working with biological familymembers and medication management. Foster parents are expected to be involvedin weekly staff meetings regarding the child in their care, and a conferencecall number is made available to the team of professionals assigned to thechild so they may call in if they are unable to attend in person.
Dockside is also proud to offer a unique opportunity to our families byproviding them with a special Seven Challenges(http://www.sevenchallenges.com) certificate training program. With thistraining, foster parents learn an innovative approach for substance abusetreatment that allows them to take an active part in the treatment of thechildren in their care.
Dockside also places great emphasis on education for all children in ourprogram and as a result is working with A to Z In-Home Tutoring(http://www.atoztutoring.com) to address the educational barriers experiencedby foster youth. Children in foster care represent one of the mostvulnerable, academically at risk populations in the United States. Studiescomparing foster children with non-foster children show that they are morethan likely to have behavioral and discipline problems, more likely toexperience gaps in education because of school transfers, more likely to be inspecial education and twice as likely to leave school without obtaining a highschool diploma. Dockside's Professional Foster Parenting Program will havethe support of home-based one-on-one tutoring by certified teachers whounderstand their specific educational needs and challenges.
About Ivy Tech Community College
Ivy Tech Community College, with 23 campuses throughout Indiana, is one ofthe nation's largest statewide community college systems and the state'ssecond largest public post-secondary institution with more than110,000 students enrolled annually. It serves as the state's engine ofworkforce development, offering affordable degree programs and training thatare aligned with the needs of its community along with courses and programsthat transfer to other colleges and universities in Indiana. It is accreditedby the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Collegesand Schools. Additional information can be found at http://www.ivytech.edu.
About Dockside Services, Inc.
Dockside Services, Inc., a leading provider of foster care systems, wasestablished in Indiana in 1999 with a
