OFS Network announces free training for child, family caregivers during July

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Family Support Network (OFSN) is offering free trainings in 2022 for anyone who works with children and families in Oklahoma, including the Standards of Quality for Family Strengthening & Support national certification and the Circle of Parents facilitator training.

The Standards of Quality for Family Strengthening & Support is a virtual, two-day certification training for all stakeholders: public departments, foundations, networks, community-based organizations, school districts and families as a tool for planning, providing and assessing quality practice. The training is organized into five areas of practice:

Family Centeredness – working with an approach that values families and recognizes them as integral to the program.

■ Family Strengthening – utilizing a family strengthening approach to support families to be strong, healthy and safe.

■ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion – Valuing, respecting and embracing families’ diversity, and advancing equity and inclusion.

■ Community Strengthening – Developing a strong and healthy community by working collaboratively with various stakeholders and supporting families’ civic engagement, leadership development and ability to effect systems change.

■ Evaluation – Looking at areas of program strength, as well as areas for further development, in order to guide continuous quality improvement and achieve positive results for families.

Three start dates are available for the two-day Standards of Quality certification training: Tuesday, July 26; Wednesday, Sept. 28; and Tuesday, Nov. 8. All sessions are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Circle of Parents is a one-day virtual training scheduled for 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 28. Participants will be trained to partner with parents to facilitate Circle of Parents support groups in a family-centered and strengthsbased manner that focuses on family development and other topics identified by parent needs.