Project partners were aiming at supporting foster parent educators to empower them to provide efficient education, guidance, and support for foster parents. The objectives of the project were as follows: 1. Enhancing foster parent educator competencies by enabling the application of new methods and tools in educating and guiding foster parents; 2. Empowering foster parents to ensure safe and strong foster families by strengthening their parenting skills in particular related to problematic behavior management.
Partners have applied for this project with the intention to meet the current needs of the main target groups of the project which are: foster parents and their educators in order to support foster families and ensure safe environment for foster children. The needs of the target groups which were addressed are a follows: - foster parents lack post-placement education and support, in particular, one related to problem behavior management as only initial training is ensured (in Lithuania and Latvia) which causes instability and even breakdowns of foster families; - educators report difficulties in finding the right tools and methods to support foster parents as no approved guidelines are available for early intervention which causes different crises in foster families. All partners have indicated the need to also find effective ways to work with foster families during a pandemic situation.