Ongoing Education
CWTS offers free training to meet the ongoing learning needs of all caregivers, beyond and regardless of certification. Whether you need training credit hours to maintain your certification or you are encountering new or evolving caregiving challenges, we have courses to support you.
- Is your child behaving in ways that are confusing to you?
- Are you unsure how best to support your youth’s gender identity?
- Does your family feel different–maybe in ways you can’t describe–now that you are caring for someone else’s child?
- Are you a kin caregiver, navigating new and surprising family dynamics?
- Would you like to understand loss and the natural grieving process (both yours and your child’s)?
- Do you want to expand your understanding of how to incorporate a child’s or youth’s culture into your caregiving to promote their development and build their self-esteem?
Courses on these topics and many more are available!
You can find course descriptions in the Course Catalog in the Caregiver In-Service Opportunities section.
If you already have an account in the CWTS LMS, log in and search by clicking Find Learning and selecting Caregiver Ongoing.
If you do not yet have an account in the CWTS LMS, start at Register for Training.
Initial Training for Caregivers
CWTS offers two certification programs to caregivers in Colorado.
To take any initial trainings, you will need to join one of the certification programs, even if you are not seeking certification.
If you are unsure which program or course you need to complete to be certified, please contact your certifying organization or county.
Ongoing Education for Caregivers
21 hours
TBRI® is an attachment-based, trauma-informed intervention that is designed to meet the complex needs of vulnerable children. TBRI uses Empowering Principles to address physical needs, Connecting Principles for attachment needs, and Correcting Principles to disarm fear-based behaviors. Although the intervention is based on years of attachment, sensory processing, and neuroscience research, the heartbeat of TBRI is connection.
14 hours
Many families underestimate the impact of bringing a new child/youth into their homes and families. The impact can be significantly reduced by understanding the cycle of change and preparing your family for potential challenges BEFORE the arrival of the new member and before the family is faced with the challenges.
7 hours
Loss is naturally expressed as grief, and our children and youth in care experience many losses. When the normal and healthy experience of grieving is interrupted, it can take the form of behavior that caregivers find confusing and difficult to manage. Take this course to deeply understand loss and grief and how to support your child’s natural grieving process.
1.5 hours
Being a resource caregiver brings both triumphs and challenges, and it’s not always easy to find supports who understand what you and your family are experiencing. Join us for biweekly topic-based sessions to share resources, support, parenting revelations, and tips for navigating child welfare processes. Register for as many of the individual sessions as you’d like.
9 hours
Kinship care is an important and necessary option for children and youth to have the best opportunity at permanency. But kinship care does not come without challenges. Families are often given minimal notice to open their doors for the kin children, certification is not always necessary (so providers miss vital training opportunities), and the family risks greater splintering. Learn how to identify supports and build strategies for navigating new family dynamics.
3.5 hours
This All Children-All Families training session was developed specifically for resource parents to support ongoing learning related to building safety and trust with youth with diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression (SOGIE). Review key terms, research on the impact of caregiver response, and steps every caregiver can take to welcome and affirm LGBTQ youth.
4 hours
In this introductory course, you’ll learn to distinguish between the concepts of race, culture, ethnicity, and nationality, look at how differences in cultural beliefs and values can lead to misconceptions about others, and get support as you explore personal biases and how to minimize their impact on the kids in your care. You’ll leave this course with greater confidence to start incorporating a child’s or youth’s culture into your caregiving to promote their development and positive self-esteem and to help them adjust in their foster home and community.
1.5 hours
Read, watch, or listen to a media resource—from articles and poems to podcasts, songs, and TedTalks—then join small groups to engage in brave, thoughtful discussions that move us toward race equity, in child welfare and the world. Check out a wide variety of topics available for you to explore and participate in these courageous conversations.
5 hours
Kids in care have disproportionately high rates of emotional and mental health challenges and are prescribed high rates of psychotropic medications. Foster parents, caseworkers, GALs, and prescribers are critically important in ensuring the appropriate use of these. This seminar series brings together all of the players to share perspectives, try out resources, and build the relationships necessary to help assure the safe prescribing of psychotropic medications for children and youth in care.
2 hours
Colorado’s legalization of marijuana has brought with it many questions about its impact on children and families. This Web-based training will give you the opportunity to start exploring cannabis’s impact on child safety. This interactive learning experience provides an overview of Colorado’s marijuana laws, an introduction to marijuana and its effects on the body and behavior, and a summary of existing research on the impacts on infants, children, teens, and adults.