 The pilot phase of the training course, PR4, took place in Italy on July 3, 2024, at the offices of the Municipality of Cerignola. The participant group comprised 14 professionals, all employed in various roles within the municipality of Cerignola. Specifically, the group included 9 social workers, 4 psychologists, and an educator/guidance counsellor, each bringing their unique perspectives and needs to the training. A good part of the group of participants now knows the project well since they collaborated with the association in the previous phases of it. Many of them were present at the focus group with the professionals and one of the needs they raised on that occasion was the need for training on the topic. During the pilot of the training, therefore, the professionals showed themselves enthusiastic and interested in being able to train since they work with foster families and minors too.  The session began with an overview of the course, and then we got into the heart of the matter, paying particular attention to some modules that the participants considered to be extremely important for their work. It was also possible to test with them some specific activities and practical tools they will use later with families and foster children. The feedback received from the professionals is overwhelmingly positive. They acknowledge the importance of training and appreciate the practicality of the topics covered. This positive response reaffirms the value of the training and the professionals' commitment to improving their approach towards families and children. 
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 On 26 June 2024, Mise HERo in Creating Care project conducted a pilot training course aimed at enhancing communication skills and strategies crucial for recruiting foster families. Held online, this event brought together eight professionals from diverse backgrounds, including psychologists, social workers, ergo therapists, and psychotherapists, who are deeply committed to supporting vulnerable populations and advancing the cause of foster care.
The facilitators have extensive experience in implementing projects with a European scope, addressing the needs of minorities, families with children, the elderly, and individuals with health disabilities. Their organization they were from offers a wide range of supportive activities, including training, seminars, psychological and psychotherapeutic services, career and life counselling, internships, and volunteering opportunities. Their expertise and commitment to helping disadvantaged individuals (including those from foster care) make them highly relevant to the topic of foster care. Participants provided valuable feedback on the training course, evaluating it across several key characteristics: innovation, sustainability, usefulness, accessibility, accuracy, feasibility, acceptability, and expected impact. Overall, the course received positive ratings, with participants appreciating the creative tasks, literature, and comprehensive approach to information delivery. They highlighted the importance of focusing on foster care as it addresses the needs of the most vulnerable groups and acknowledged the high demand for quality and educated caregivers in this field. The course materials were complimented for their user-friendliness, clear and understandable language, and precise targeting of the intended audience. Participants found the inclusion of case studies from partner countries particularly enriching, providing insight into the diverse realities of foster care systems across different regions. Additionally, the training offered participants the opportunity to try out activities firsthand and learn how to apply them in real-life situations. While the feedback was generally positive, some participants noted that the course could benefit from additional information on recruiting new potential families. Nonetheless, they expressed confidence in the training's potential to generate positive outcomes for the target group. The variety of activities offered stakeholders a choice of the most appropriate options for their own needs and those of foster parents. In conclusion, the pilot training course successfully provided essential communication skills and strategies for recruiting foster families. The positive feedback from participants underscores the course's potential to make a significant impact on foster care recruitment efforts. As the project continues to refine and expand its offerings, it empowers professionals to better serve vulnerable populations in need of foster care.  Throughout June and July 2024, Aproximar promoted 2 editions of the Training Course, developed by the CreatingCare initiative. The goals of course “Communication Strategies in the Recruitment of Foster Families” were to provide practical knowledge and resources to professionals that work in areas related to foster care and develop their competencies to effectively communicate and engage with potential foster families, therefore contributing to the deinstitutionalization of unaccompanied minors. The Training Course pilot had the participation of a total of 33 professionals from different parts of the country, including social workers, teachers, police officers, social educators and representatives from the Commission for the Protection of Children and Young People. Each edition was constituted by 7 online sessions, led by 6 staff members from the Education and Community Empowerment & the Creative Marketing units, who collaborated to ensure that the desired outcomes of the pilot were reached.  During the sessions, Aproximar’s team had the opportunity to present the main findings from the CreatingCare’s previous work, including the design thinking tools that will allow these professionals to engage with potential foster families in an informal and effective way. Participants also learned how to use digital tools, such as Miro and Canva, applied to marketing and in the context of foster care, through the development of a Communication Plan.
According to the feedback provided, the Training Course pilot was highly appreciated by participants, who have recognized it as useful and relevant for the development of communication competencies in foster care. 7/31/2024 Training course on communicating skills and strategies in the process of recruiting foster families | French experienceRead Now Our French partner, Afeji, organised two validation workshops connected to the training course on communication skills and strategies in the process of recruiting foster families. The first event took place on the 6th of February 2024 in one of Afeji’s establishment welcoming young migrants. It is a Housing and Integration Scheme for Unaccompanied Minors (DHIMNA) in the city of Cassel in the North of France. This establishment offers a range of services, coordinated in such a way as to promote educational and/or professional integration, the creation of social links and the independence of the 44 unaccompanied minors accommodated. A total of 11 experts participated, among them 10 social workers and 1 psychologist helping unaccompanied minors. So, we nearly doubled the target of 6 participants! The validation workshop went smoothly, social workers & psychologist were very attentive and asked several questions on the project. Participants liked the way the training was structured with good theoretical context and playful activities. Rudy Haddad, an educator at DHIMNA, who participated at the training in Athens, presented the three modules and the related activities.  The second training was delivered by Rudy Haddad on the 9th of July 2024 to 9 participants. The majority of them are specialized educators of DHIMNA in Vanhove, which is an establishment welcoming young migrants having issues with the justice (drug traffic etc.). There was also a psychologist among the participants, helping young migrants and the professionals. Rudy started with the presentation of the project and the theoretical part of the training. Then, he presented modules 1, 2 and 3. Finally, a time was dedicated for the participants to give their feedback. thoughts from the participants“It was perfect, no need for improvement!" "Personally, it taught me a lot."  Participants found that the trainer gave a qualitative intervention and that the training programme is complete to answer the questions put forward when it comes to accompanying unaccompanied minors.
The European approach and the focus on host families’ needs/interests was much appreciated. Overall the attractivity of the training is confirmed, it was a great time to exchange ideas among the DHIMNA team.  The pilot training course of KMOP was held in Athens on June 13, 2024. The training was attended by 4 social workers and 5 psychologists, all involved in Greece’s adoption and foster care system. They work with local NGOs or collaborate with public authorities such as the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
The session started with a theoretical overview, followed by detailed explanations of the training modules. The modules provided strategies to improve expertise in recruiting foster families, supported by a literature review covering best practices and evidence-based approaches from seven countries. Participants expressed great interest and found the training content highly relevant and innovative. They appreciated the practical focus and the ability to compare foster care practices across different countries. The training was praised for its clarity, practicality, and interactive nature, which facilitated experience sharing among colleagues. The only negative feedback was the challenge of convincing the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to adopt and distribute the material due to bureaucratic barriers. Nonetheless, participants found the training to be a valuable additional tool for their work. Overall, the session was deemed highly successful and recommended for future training programs.  In Austria, the Creating Care PR4 training course was piloted in July 2024 by the University of Innsbruck and Compass GmbH. 9 highly motivated participants, driven by a strong desire to support potential foster parents more effectively and to improve their skills to improve their personal and professional lives, took part in the pilot. Background of the participants from social workers, family counsellors, NGO members, trainers working with families The facilitators played a key role in guiding participants through the learning journey. Their observations and feedback provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of the workshop and its impact on the learners. The trainers noted that the participants were enthusiastic about the approach used in the training This hands-on and experiential learning method allowed the participants to actively engage in practical activities, which proved to be highly effective and useful in their skills development process. By actively participating in various tasks, learners were able to grasp concepts more effectively and gain a deeper understanding of the subject matter. thoughts from our participants"We were able to analyse and understand prejudices and stereotypes about foster care. " "Creating a model that I can use in our work is one of the most effective parts of the training." "Working on the case studies was an enjoyable and enlightening experience."  The PR4 validation workshop was held on 29 February 2024 at 17:00 and lasted 2.5 hours on Zoom. A total of 13 participants, who are experts in the field of social and foster care, attended the event. They found the content and activities useful and practical for their practice with families who want to become foster carers and support them in maintaining healthy relationships with their foster children. After the event, we sent them an evaluation form and the German version of PR4 so that they could provide feedback on their understanding. The event empowered participants by equipping them with knowledge, tools and resources to take meaningful action to support foster carers in the future. What one of or participants said: "Personally, I find the content and activities useful because they help to identify emotions and understand the person's behaviour better, and because after classifying the colours and emotions you can get a picture of the person's behaviour. In addition, it plays a crucial role in a healthy relationship, it allows for an emotional connection, which is necessary especially during the getting to know each other phase and later for a healthy foster parent-child relationship. Especially during the getting to know each other phase and later for a healthy foster parent-child relationship. "
 On the 24th-25th of January, the third Transnational Project Meeting of the Creating Care project was held in Cerignola, Italy.
The nine partner organisations had productive discussions regarding the work on the project results and the progress achieved so far. So we are happy to inform you that the first two results of the project, Tool for Understanding Professionals' Perceptions and Experiences in terms of recruitment and communication with foster families and Tool for Understanding Foster families' needs, perceptions, and experiences, have been finalized and the final reports will soon be available on the website. Further on, we have started working on the next two outputs Family engagement tool and Training course on communicating skills and strategies in the process of recruiting foster families.  The Creating Care partners gathered in Lisbon, Portugal on the 24th and 25th of October for the fourth Transnational Project Meeting.
The discussions were productive and led to setting out the next steps to be taken towards finalizing the two project deliverables:
We are also glad to inform you that work has started on the last project result, the App for foster families. stay tuned for more updates on the project.  Photo by Michael Burrows Our third PR intends to develop a practical tool to help professionals to engage all families and to raise awareness on the need of increasing the number of foster carers as a strategy towards deinstitutionalization. Based on the results obtained from PR1 and PR2, this tool will help professionals through comprehensive information and high-impact family engagement activities, to awaken social awareness and to encourage social solidarity and responsibility among all members of the community. So we put the tool to test and organised validation workshops with professionals. As you will see below, the tool was generally well received and the participants had valuable feedback and recommendations for the Creating Care partnership, which will help us improve and create a better result. France Participants profile: 7 participants, specialized or educational educators, international project coordinators and an intern. Although these professionals do not work directly with foster families, they work with unaccompanied minors daily and are therefore familiar with their needs and their expectations of living with a foster family. The participants appreciated the workshop and the project, which they found very innovative. Regarding the tool, they recommended to include discussion on topics like: · Culture · Administrative procedures imposed on unaccompanied minors · Describe the advantages of hosting an unaccompanied minor and set limits The professionals think that this tool is very interesting and innovative and that they will be able to use it with the volunteer foster families with whom they already work. They think that the activities are fun and provide the keys to training foster families. However, they think that the topic of unaccompanied minors is not covered in sufficient depth in the tool. It would be interesting to add the points about unaccompanied minors and to talk about the professionals who will help support these foster families and young unaccompanied minors. Romania Participants profile: 14 professionals, social workers, counsellors, psychologists, head of maternal assistance service. The overall impression is positive on the project as a whole. For the Family Involvement Tool, the professionals present were sceptical about the context in which it can be used, given that the institutions they come from already have protocols in place regarding communication and recruitment of foster families (maternal assistants). The feedback from completing the evaluation questionnaire reflects that the tool needs improvement particularly in clarifying the context in which it can be used by child protection professionals. Other comments to consider pointed out that the tool has an idealistic vision, the myths presented in the Myth Box activity are actually realities unfortunately, which represent real challenges for professionals. The main conclusion for the interpretation of the collected feedback is that the tool must have a clearer context of its use and a more accentuated component of awareness and communication. Greece Participants profile: 6 participants, 3 social workers & 3 psychologists. Overall, as strengths they highlighted the fact that the tool gathers enough and essential information that is not accessible elsewhere. As weaknesses they mentioned that they would like to see more practical examples of how to handle difficult cases that actually may occur in a foster family. Lastly, on improvements & suggestions, they mentioned that it would make the Tool even more holistic to mention «foster parent education support programmes” before and during fostering care that are available right now in the country and that always helps in projects like this (CreatingCare) to have public authorities participating in the development, as those are responsible on the subject in question and the information always starts from them. Italy Participants profile: 6, four social workers and two psychologists.
The overall assessment of the tool is positive. All participants agree that it is a user-friendly tool, the activities are intuitive, understandable and really easy to carry out. Regarding sustainability they said: "the tool goes straight to the point: raising awareness among families" "the tool responds perfectly to a need that we feel strongly, which is to involve potential foster families". Regarding feasibility and acceptability, the participants commented that "it is a challenge for potential foster parents; therefore, we must aim to solicit them"; "adaptable to every different cultural and social context". About the accuracy, some participants commented as follows: “It is essential that the tool is concrete, placed in the context and above all accurate, practical, not far from reality"; "the activities of the tool are beneficial for professionals and stakeholders"; "the tool is functional to the activity that we professionals we carry out". |