QUALITY PARENTING INITIATIVE OVERVIEW AND KICK-OFF IN
MINNESOTA
What is QPI?
Quality Parenting Initiative (QPI) is an approach to strengthening foster care, by refocusing on excellent parenting for all children in the child welfare system developed by the Youth Law Center based in California.
QPI believes the primary goal of the child welfare system is to ensure that children have effective, loving parenting.The best way to achieve this goal is to support the child’s own parents to care for them. If thatisn’tpossible, the system must ensure that the foster or relative family caring for the child provides the loving, committed, skilled care that the child needs, while working effectively with the system to reach the child’s long term goals.
The key elements of the QPI process are to welcome stakeholders from every part of the system to mutually support one another and the system itself to:
§ Define the expectations of caregivers;
§ Clearly articulate these expectations; and then
§ Align the system to support all involved in parenting so the expectations can become a reality.
Why QPI?
QPI addresses challenging child welfare issues in our community such as re-entry rates, disparities, trauma, and recruitment and retention of quality foster parents. Established QPI sites across the country report improvement in outcomes related to: reduced unplanned placement changes, reduced use of group care, reduced numbers of sibling separation, more successful reunification, fewer children returning to out of home placement, and greater recruitment and retention of foster families.
Who is involved in QPI?
Anyone who is invested in positive outcomes for children and families in our community is invited to be involved in QPI: parents and professionals connected to the child welfare system, foster and relative caregivers, foster youth and alumni, individuals from diverse communities that experience disparities within the system, advocates for children and families, community and faith leaders, judicial and legislative representatives.
What does involvement in QPI look like?
Through the QPI process, all stakeholders including foster parents, guardians ad litem, county case managers, advocates, foster alumni, birth families and others from our community will identify the core attributes of quality parenting that we want to support for all children and youth in our child welfare and foster system. Stakeholders will design and implement action plans to address barriers and generate support for all children and families in our child welfare system.
How can you get involved in QPI?
Join the Minnesota QPI Kick-Off on Tuesday, October 24, 2017, from 9 am to 3 pm at the Wellstone Center in St. Paul! This is a chance for everyone to come together to talk about how we can start creating change to improve the foster care experience for children and families in Minnesota.
For stakeholders interested in ongoing involvement to move forward identified QPI priorities, Action Workgroups will hold their first convening on Wednesday, October 25, 2017, 9 am to 3 pm.
QPI is sponsored by the members of AspireMN serving children and families in foster care. For more information: Contact Kirsten Anderson at or 651-288-3437 or Kate Rickord at .