Three Phases
There are three phases of installing ARC Reflections: planning, training and evaluation.
The Casey Foundation and the Justice Resource Institute developed ARC Reflections, a training curriculum to develop foster parents and caregivers’ understanding of traumatic stress, increase their own emotional regulation and provide tools to support their parenting skills. This implementation guide serves as a primer for child welfare agencies interested in installing the curriculum within their existing in-service foster care training program. It includes two parts: how to install ARC Reflections, which describes the curriculum’s components, logistics and planning steps; and a review of implementation considerations, which includes lessons from jurisdictions that have piloted ARC Reflections.
In addition to the implementation guide, the curriculum includes detailed facilitator guides, training presentations, facilitator welcome and handouts, Olivia’s story, a case manager guide, handouts for participants, and survey and feedback materials.
In addition to serving as a skill-building tool for foster parents, ARC Reflections gives staff and foster parents a shared language to discuss youth needs and guide parenting strategies. It is critical that agency staff participate in ARC Reflections training. Staff who have been trained can bring a trauma lens into treatment conferences, family meetings, court proceedings and collaboration with community partners.