Support to Family Care Network – Important Updates
It’s been a busy couple of months for our program and we have
several exciting updates to share with everyone.
Website - Interior Community Services – Support to Family
Care Network will now have a dedicated website for our
program which is currently under construction and expected to
be up and running sometime in April of 2015. There will be
pages set up for each area as well as centralized pages for
training and important links. www.icsfp.info
Inside this Issue:
-
STFC updates/survey
BCFFPA AGM Information
Williams Lake, BC
100 Mile House, BC
West Kootenay
East Kootenay
Kamloops & surrounding areas
Important Contact Numbers &
Websites
Program Brochure – check out our new program brochure that
has important information that will be given out to new and
existing foster parents as well as Ministry staff. Ask your
Network Facilitator for one!
Survey Monkey 2014 – we are currently conducting two surveys
for our program in order to gather important information and
feedback for future planning on the services we provide. The
foster parent survey can be found at:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MHZG6NY
All completed foster parent surveys that are received no later
than noon on Friday, February 6, 2015 will be entered in to a
draw for the IPad Mini (16 gig) pictured below.
Five secondary prizes of $25 gift certificates will be drawn as
well. Good luck!
Want to Win this IPad Mini?
Take our Survey and be entered to WIN!
Support to Family Care Network program would like your help in determining what is working well and where we could
make some improvements. All thoroughly completed surveys with comments sections filled out will be entered into the
draw! One entry per foster parent only! Good luck!
Will be held in the beautiful Whistler Village!
May 22-23, 2015
Join the Support to Family Care Network staff in beautiful Whistler Village in May for the BCFFPA Annual General
Meeting and Conference. This is a great opportunity to network with foster parents, ICS staff and Ministry staff from all
over British Columbia!
Back by popular demand are the Banquet Evening Dance and the Friday night Wellness Room where guests can enjoy
refreshments by the patio campfire and relax with a foot massage.
BCFFPA is mixing it up by spreading out the ‘Camp for Kids’ fundraisers with a 50/50 draw during the workshop day
lunch hour, the bucket draw on Friday night at the Wellness Room and the ever popular “loonie” auction, hosted by
ICS’s Kari Bepple, on Saturday at the Banquet.
Book soon to ensure you receive the foster parent rate! Rooms are going fast!
Hilton Room (2 double beds) or King Junior Suite — $135/night
Underground parking is available at the reduced rate of $15/day.
Please be sure to specify the event name ‘Foster Parents’ when reserving.
Phone: (604)932-1982 or toll free at 1(800)515-4050.
E-mail: [email protected]
Individual reservations must be guaranteed with a credit card or advance deposit. The Hilton will accept cancellation of
guest reservations up to 14 days prior to arrival.
Watch for packages coming out the beginning of March 2015
Upcoming Meeting Dates
KAMLOOPS PARTNERSHIP MEETINGS: February 10th & March 10th, 2015 @ 10am – MCFD, 905 Southill St
BCFFPA LOCAL MEETINGS: March 2nd at 10: a.m. & April 13th at 6:30 p.m. 765 Tranquille Rd.
Liaison Meeting: Friday, February 27th, 2015 from 10:00am to noon at the ICS office, 765 Tranquille Rd.
Rivers Group Meetings: February 23rd & March 30th, 2015 9am at Mount Paul Golf Course Restaurant.
Safe Babies Group Meeting: February 13th & March 13th, 9am-11am at Gateway Church (163 Oriole Rd, Kamloops)
Safe Babies Training
Safe Babies Alternative Caregiver
Tuesday, Feb. 10th, Monday, Feb.
16th & Thursday, Feb/ 19th, 2015
Feb. 24th & 26th, 2015
6:00pm to 9:00pm
9:00am to 3:00pm
Interior Community Services
Southill Training Room
765 Tranquille Road
905 Southill St.
This course is for people that are
not caring for babies and
toddlers from the Safe Babies
group overnight.
Please RSVP to
250-554-3134 ext. 212
53 Hour Education Program
This program commences on Wednesday February 4th and will be the start of Series 2. Anyone who has yet to
complete series 2 is welcome to join us from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 at the 765 Tranquille office. There will not be a
class offered on February 18th.
Lunch & Learns
Our next Lunch & Learn is February 26, 2015 at 10:30am. The Lunch & Learn portion of the morning will be from
10:30-11:30 followed by a Support Meeting from 11:45-1:00. The support meeting will give those in attendance an
opportunity to discuss topics relevant to the home as well a chance to get together with other foster parents and
Support to Family Care staff. You are welcome to drop in to the Lunch & Learns or Support Meetings or come to both
if you like! *Bring a Bag Lunch*
Barriere/Clearwater:
upcoming partnership
training dates.
Watch
meeting
for
and
Merritt:
Merritt foster parents
needing to renew their First Aid please
contact Betty Ann as she is setting up a
class; a portion of each participant’s paid
fees will be reimbursed from the group
monies from ICS.
Foster parent networking lunch will be
held on: Tuesday February 17th @ 11:30 at
the Coldwater Hotel; Jack Legebokow
from the Ministry will attend the last 30
minutes to speak with foster parents. All
are welcome; please RSVP to Betty Ann
for lunch numbers.
Revelstoke:
There will be a potluck lunch and
partnership meeting on Thursday, February 12, 2015 from
11:30 – 1:00 p.m.
Come on out and network with foster parents, ICS staff
(Kari, Deb and Debbie) and Ministry staff. Meet the new
team leader, Keri Trinder. ICS staff will be there at 11:00
a.m. to meet with foster parents prior to the partnership
meeting and potluck.
Lillooet: Watch for upcoming partnership meeting and
training dates. We are hoping to have a Friday night foster
parent networking meeting in March, followed by an allday Pre-Service for prospective foster parents on the
Saturday.
Check out the new Interior Community Services office at
76 5th Avenue, Lillooet and meet our Director of
Programs, Taryn Campbell.
Ashcroft: We would like to have a foster parent networking meeting on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2015 at 6:00pm at the
Bear Claw Restaurant. Please RSVP to Debbie at 250-554-3134 ext 212 or by email to
[email protected]
I want to wish everyone a late happy new year and hope your holiday season was full of great family experiences. We
had a chance to do some training on children with trauma in Golden in December and I am looking forward to
organizing some more learning experiences in this area. Cranbrook has many ongoing things with training and social
events on the last Tuesday of each month. We are setting up for first aid for a small group in the Elk Valley and hope
for more in this area during the upcoming year.
I am looking for ideas from all areas for things you would like to do over the next year. Check what is happening in
other places in the Kootenay area or throughout the whole region covered by this newsletter. If you see anything you
think may work in your town let me know and we will see if it is possible.
Also watch for the chance to win an iPad by filling out the survey on support for your area.
[email protected]
Cranbrook
FIFTH ANNUAL FP BANQUET
Tuesday February 24, 2015, 9:30 to 11.30
Board Room MCFD. Let’s view some BCFFPA
Training Videos. Come out and enjoy time with
other Foster Parents!
& LOONIE AUCTION
Local Foster Parent Meetings:
Wednesday, February 4th 9:30 am at the
home of Evelyne Seminowich, 1824 Hunter Rd,
Cranbrook 250-426-8178
Wednesday, February 18th 7:00 pm At the
home of Frank Hetherington, 1941 Kelowna
Cresc., Cranbrook, 250-426-6013. These
meetings will continue every two weeks on an
ongoing basis please contact Frank at 250-4266013 to verify location and times.
Elk Valley
I am still working on putting together a group
for first aid training in early February. We still
have room for one more person before we
work out the dates. Call 250-426-6013
Saturday, March 7th, at the Heritage Inn Ballroom,
Cranbrook .
Contact Gerri
Burleigh 250-489-8441 or Frank Hetherington 250-4266013 for tickets.
This is a fund
raiser put on by the Cranbrook FP local with funds
being used to support FPs to go to the AGM as well as
other local activities. This event is a real good time
enjoyed by everyone who attends.
Golden
I am looking forward to getting back up to Golden to
put on a workshop for the business side of fostering.
We will set a date to allow as foster parents as
possible to attend.
I hope to see you all there as this will give you a
chance to fully understand your contracts and other
aspects of being a foster parent.
Support to Family Care Network
West Kootenay
(Nelson, Castlegar, Trail, Nakusp, & Boundary)
Joyce Johnson
(250)365-5800
subcontracted through
Happy New Year Everyone!
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season filled with family, food and fun! 
Check out the rest of the newsletter for (among other things) information on this year’s AGM in Whistler. Just a
reminder that if you are interested in going to the AGM there is funding to help you, give me a call and I can go over
the options with you. And if you haven’t had a chance to do our Survey yet, you still have time – deadline is noon on
February 6th – in the past, the West Kootenay/Boundary foster parents completed more surveys than any other area.
Let’s do it again this year! 
A quick note from the Resource Team:
If a foster parent is planning to travel outside of North America with a CIC, then please consult with the child’s
guardianship worker at least two months prior. This is to allow time to process a letter of approval. Mexico also
needs a few weeks.
Foster Parent Meetings
Nelson
Feb 17th – 10am to 1 pm Vintage Room at
the Baker Street Inn – discussion topics
include targeted recruitment planning,
setting up a local, future training and
anything else you’d like to talk about!
Training at ARC offices – 625 Columbia Ave,
Castlegar
Art & Science of Transplanting Children, DVD
series by Dr. Gordon Neufeld – fourth
session is on Feb 11th, from 3 – 5 pm call me
if you are interested in joining us!
Business Side of Fostering
Feb 19th – 9:30 to noon – we will review
contracts, insurance, supports, WCB, income
tax, and other things that everyone who is
fostering needs to understand. Please let me
know if you are planning to attend so that I
have enough booklets for everyone.
Get it in writing!
I know you’ve heard this before, but recent events have me saying
it again.
Ideally, there would be a Plan of Care in place for all the children
and youth that you care for… realistically, that doesn’t happen all
the time. A Plan of Care helps everyone stay on the same page,
communicate effectively and lends to better outcomes for
children and youth.
Without a Plan of Care, foster parents need to:
- Include all team members in emails
- Try and keep communications (both verbal and written)
short and concise
- Send confirmation emails after a verbal conversation, to
make sure everyone has the same understanding of the
conversation
- Keep the documentation printed and organized for easy
access to information
And always remember to keep this sensitive information secure.
ARC Programs – new location 625 Columbia Ave, Castlegar BC
Open House – February 11th from noon to 2 pm – hope to see you there!
RSVP to Jen Mair 250-365-5800. 
For more details and events happening in your area: www.williamslake.ca
FORhttp://williamslake.ca/http://williamslake.ca/calendar.a
spx?CID=36,14,23,30,25,28,27,22,24,
FAMILY DAY!
FOSTER PARENT SURVEY!!!
Monday, February 9th, 2015 is Family Day.
Why not take the day to plan a family activity
with the children/youth in your home? Go
skating, swimming, play board games, or
tobogganing, as a family!
Foster Parent Meeting
Foster parents can expect a call from me to
see if we can set up a date for a foster parent
meeting before the end of February. If there
are dates and times that work best for folks
feel free to email or call (250)392-6842. We
will be discussing what trainings foster parents
would like to see in our community this spring.
We will also be discussing the group funds
from ICS and how foster parents would like to
see the money spent.
If you have not already completed the survey, please
take a few minutes to do so. The deadline to have your
name put into the draw for a 16 gig iPad Mini is February
6th, 2015 at noon.
The Support to Family Care Network uses the
information that you provide to assist us in providing
services such as trainings, networking socials, support
and other activities to meet the needs of the foster
parents we service, and for future planning.
If you have already filled in the survey, THANK YOU and
good luck!! The information you provided is very
important to our program. Remember each foster
parent within the home can fill out a survey!
UPCOMING MEETINGS:
Foster Parent Meeting: February 10th, 2015 at the MCFD OFFICE from 10:00-12:00.
INFORMATION SESSION:
Boundaries, and Foster Parents’ info session on February 24, 2015 from 10:00am-12:00pm in the
MCFD boardroom. Child minding will be provided. Please bring a coffee and a snack to share if you would like.
IMPORTANT DATE CHANGE
Due to Spring Break, our March Foster Parent
meeting and Partnership meeting will be on
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2015. The Foster Parent
meeting will be held from 9:30-10:30am,
followed by a partnership meeting from
10:30-11:30am.
HOPE TO SEE EVERYONE THERE!!
FOSTER PARENT SURVEY!!!
If you have not already completed the survey, please take a
few minutes to do so. The deadline to have your name put
into the draw for an iPad Mini is February 6th, 2015 at noon.
The Support to Family Care Network uses the information
that you provide to assist us in, implementing services such
as trainings, networking socials, support and other activities
to meet the needs of the foster parents we service.
FAMILY DAY!
Monday, February 9th, 2015 is Family Day.
Why not take the day to plan a family activity
with the children/youth in your home? Go
skating, swimming, play board games, or
tobogganing, as a family!
If you have already filled in the survey, THANK YOU and good
luck!! The information you provided is very important to us.
The Support to Family Care Network (STFC) provides
education, training and support to foster parents in the
Interior Region – Thompson/Cariboo, Revelstoke, Golden,
East and West Kootenay.
Mandatory training for foster parents includes the 53 Hour
B.C. Foster Parent Education Program, which can be done online, through our website, in group, or through supported 1-1
work. STFC also offers Pre-Service orientation, for those
interested in learning more about fostering, in almost all of
our communities. Additional training may be offered in each
of the communities over the course of the year and is based
on the needs of the community. Foster parent groups in most
of the communities have a group liaison who contacts them
for training and networking opportunities. These liaisons also
welcome input from all foster parents. Liaisons meet with
each other and ICS Network Facilitators to provide ongoing
learning, support and networking for all foster parents.
Another service we provide is supporting foster parents
through protocol investigations, which can be overwhelming
or more stressful without supports in place. Foster parents
are welcome to contact us directly to talk about their
situation and rely on our confidential support. We also
support foster parents in resolving issues they may have with
the Ministry, not related to a protocol; and are called upon to
attend meetings with foster parents at their request. For
more information on our program, please call us at ICS main
office 554-3134 or 1-877-376-3660.
How to contact us:
Program Coordinator
Kari Bepple: (250)554-3134 ext. 225; cell (250)819-1919
[email protected]
Kamloops, BC & Surrounding Areas: (250)554-3134 ext. 212
Deb Allan
[email protected]
Debbie Ross
[email protected]
East Kootenay & Surrounding Area: (250)426-6013
Frank Hetherington
[email protected]
West Kootenay & Boundary Area: (250)365-5800
Joyce Johnson
[email protected]
Williams Lake, BC: (250)892-6842
Sharon Stolz
[email protected]
100 Mile House, BC: (250)395-8907
Sandi Lackey
[email protected]
I’m a foster parent… what’s
your super power?
Important Numbers and Websites
After Hours Emergency Line:
1-800-663-9122
(Call to report critical incidents, report AWOLs, to obtain approval for emergency medical care, etc.)
Provincial Foster Parent Support Line:
1-888-495-4440
Hours: Mon. to Fri.: 4 pm - 12:45 am Sat, Sun & Stat holidays 8 am - 12:45 am
B.C. Federation of Foster Parents Association: 1-800-663-9999
www.bcfosterparents.ca
Federation of Aboriginal Foster Parents
1-866-291-7091
www.fafp.ca
Federation of BC Youth in Care Network
www.fbcyicn.ca
Foster Parents Handbook (5th Ed)
www.mcf.gov.bc.ca/foster/pdf/handbook.pdf
Standards for Foster Homes:
http://www.mcf.gov.bc.ca/foster/pdf/standards_foster_homes.pdf