CHILD AND FAMILY PARTICIPATION
Every child and family holds insight, strength, and a voice worth hearing. This course helps you move beyond service for families to solutions with them—offering the tools and mindsets needed to embed meaningful participation across your programs and systems.
You'll explore biblical foundations, best practices, and practical tools to engage children and families in the decisions that affect their lives. Whether you're a frontline caseworker or a policymaker shaping national systems, this course equips you to foster authentic collaboration that leads to healing, empowerment, and lasting change.
YOU’LL WALK AWAY WITH
- Tools to integrate developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed participation into case planning and program design
- Strategies to address power dynamics, cultural norms, and informed consent with sensitivity
- Practical models like Family Group Conferences and real-time feedback loops
- Resources to embed participation into your organization’s mission, culture, and systems
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A CAFO Certificate of Completion to demonstrate your learning
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT
Customizable Tools & Templates
Downloadable, editable forms and planning tools help you tailor participation practices to your program.
Team Discussion &
Summary Guides
Review what you've learned and lead others through team discussions with provided guides and curated resources.
CAFO Certificate of
Completion
Earn a CAFO certificate to recognize your commitment to honoring the voice and value of children and families.
A PROVEN FRAMEWORK FOR BETTER CARE
This course is part of CAFO’s Core Elements of Success program, which provides a clear roadmap to improving outcomes for vulnerable children through evidence-based training on key aspects of quality care.
Drawing from global best practices and enriched by insights from NGOs, field experts, and experienced leaders, each course equips you with the knowledge, skills, and tools necessary to provide quality care for vulnerable children and families. Topics range from child protection and confidentiality to board governance and fiscal accountability—giving you the resources to implement best practices across every aspect of your organization, ensuring your efforts lead to meaningful, positive outcomes.
If you're committed to achieving measurable results—rather than just hoping for positive outcomes—and need actionable strategies and tools to improve your program, this course is for you.
CAFO’s Core Elements of Success: Simplified care improvement, designed for you.
AT A GLANCE
Center the voices of children and families in every decision that affects them.
- Who is This Course For?
- Christian leaders and staff serving vulnerable children and families
- US-based staff and advisors supporting international programs or local child welfare systems
- Policymakers and system designers seeking to embed dignity, voice, and lived experience into structures and decisions
- Anyone committed to moving beyond top-down planning to collaborative, culturally grounded, and biblically rooted solutions
- Time Commitment
- Fully self-paced
- Most courses take 3 hours to complete, but you’re welcome to move at your own pace.
- Price
- $89 CAFO Members
- $99 Non-Members
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Need help covering the cost? Learn about scholarships and group discounts.
COURSE CURRICULUM PREVIEW
- Introducing Key Principles of Family and Child Participation
- Integrating Child and Family Participation Within the Organization’s Mission
- Identifying and Addressing Barriers to Family and Child Participation
- Navigating Skepticism and Building Trust with Stakeholders
- Empowering Families as Partners in Developing and Implementing Support Services
- Developmentally-Appropriate Communication Techniques for Involving Children
- Collaborative Goal-Setting and Decision-Making with Children and Families
- Including Children When Family Is/Is Not Involved: Guidelines and Guardrails
EXPLORE OTHER COURSES
Want to keep learning? Check out other courses in CAFO’s Core Elements of Success program.
