All licensed foster homes in Alaska are required to have training each year.
Beginning July 1, 2022, the State of Alaska is moving away from required number of hours to an Individualized Training Plan (ITP) for each foster home specific to the needs of the children in their homes for all new homes licensed or relicensed in 2022. The ITP will begin when licensed families come up for renewal or beginning of their foster care license.
Foster parents in the state of Alaska will work with their licensing worker as well as caseworkers
for the children placed in their home to determine training needs. When a foster home is issued
a license, the licensing worker will discuss with the family what training is needed to meet the
needs of the child or children in the home. These needs will be determined through a
conversation with the family, the caseworker and the licensing worker. Then, an Individualized
Training Plan (ITP) will be developed for each foster family. The foster family will complete this training before the end of that licensing year in order to comply
with licensing requirements.
For the first year of licensure, foster parents will be asked to complete Core Training for Resource Families or Core Training for Relative Caregivers. This will be specified in the foster family’s ITP. Each following year of licensure a new ITP will be developed with the family’s training needs in mind and will be based on the foster parent’s previous experience and training. The Individual Training Plan is a specific form that is used to plan, document, and track completion of training.
The Alaska Center for Resource Families (ACRF) is set up to assist foster parents in recording the training completed for their ITP. If you complete training that is offered by ACRF, your training credits will be automatically entered into your record. For training completed outside ACRF, you will need to complete an ITP Universal Questionnaire and submit documentation. If your training is accepted, it will be entered into a database and made available to you or your licensing worker upon request.