There is a great deal of evidence that families play a critical role in their child’s learning. This resource details strategies for engaging with families of children in out-of-home care (OOHC) to support children’s learning outcomes. These strategies elaborate on the ‘promising approaches’ outlined in AERO’s family engagement for learning practice guides.

The promising approaches include:

- recognising and supporting family engagement in learning at home
- supporting two-way, positive communication and providing light touch updates about learning
- promoting a literacy-rich environment at home (primary school guide)
- collaboratively planning and problem solving with families.

There is a great deal of evidence that families play a critical role in their child’s learning. This resource details strategies for engaging with families of children in out-of-home care (OOHC) to support children’s learning outcomes. These strategies elaborate on the ‘promising approaches’ outlined in AERO’s family engagement for learning practice guides.

The promising approaches include:

- recognising and supporting family engagement in learning at home
- supporting two-way, positive communication and providing light touch updates about learning
- promoting a literacy-rich environment at home (primary school guide)
- collaboratively planning and problem solving with families.

This curriculum, which may be used in whole or in part, offers an overview of kinship care including a brief historical context for this resource, funding associated with kinship care, and some of the legal issues that have shaped kinship care policy. Characteristics of kinship care providers and children are presented, along with a thorough examination of outcomes associated with kinship care. In addition, data on the number of children in foster care, kinship care in the context of the larger out-of-home care population, outcomes associated with kinship care versus non-kin care, and the discrepancy between AFDC and AFDC-FC payments in California and the role these differential payment rates may play in kinship care outcomes are provided. Last, child welfare workers' views about the primary differences between kinship foster parents and foster family parents, and changes in policy and practice are considered. (188 pages)Berrick, J. D., Needell, B., & Barth, R. P. (1995).

This curriculum was designed to improve the quality of care provided to children in out-of-home care. It highlights the importance of providing child welfare services that are more responsive to the voices of children in kin and non-kin foster care. Components include an overview of the child welfare system in California, a literature review of children's experiences in out-of-home care, children's experiences with kin and non-kin foster care in California, adolescents' perspectives of out-of-home care in California, practice tips for child welfare workers, case vignettes, and a bibliography of relevant child welfare texts and articles cited in the curriculum. (348 pages)Fox, A., Frasch, K., & Berrick, J. D. (2000).

This curriculum, written for graduate social work students and child welfare workers, is designed to improve the quality of care and services provided to children in out-of-home care. It highlights the importance of providing child welfare services that are responsive to the needs of children who must prepare for emancipation and the responsibilities of adult life. While more research efforts are aimed at tracking youth emancipating from the foster care system, little is known about those who are currently enrolled in post-secondary education. Further, research on youth exiting the foster care system tends to highlight negative outcomes. Little is known of former foster youth who go on to lead healthy and productive lives and what the contributing factors were that enabled them to succeed. Understanding their pathways to college and identifying the factors related to educational achievement can help inform program and service delivery to youth currently in the foster care system. (186 pages)Merdinger, J. M., Hines, A. M., Lemon, K., Wyatt, P., & Tweed, M. (2002).