Foster and Kinship Care Education (FKCE) Program
Program Fact Sheet September 2012
Program History: The California Community College Foster & Kinship Care Education (FKCE) program was established in 1984 with the passage of Senate Bill 2003 (Chapter 1597, Statutes of 1984). The purpose of the program is to provide high quality education and training to foster parents and kinship care providers throughout the state to prepare them for working with the many needs of the foster children and youth in their care. The Chancellor’s Office administers this statewide educational program in conjunction with 62 colleges. Our office provides leadership, funding, oversight and technical assistance; maintainsinteragency agreements with the California Department of Social Services; and collaborates with key state and local agencies to ensure effectiveness of the program.
Description: The FKCE Program supports statewide requirements for preparing and retaining well qualified foster and kinship caregivers and to help address the statewide shortage of foster and kinship care families. FKCE delivers quality education and training for foster care providers of children and youth in out-of-home care to meet the educational, emotional, behavioral and developmental needs of children and youth. In 2010-11, the colleges provided over 30,000 hours of education throughout the state to 35,000 participants caring for foster children and youth.
Appropriations for 2012-13: The FKCE program is budgeted for $10.3 million, approximately half in federal matching funds, based on a dedicated amount of Proposition 98 funding. The average college allocation is approximately $150,000 per participating campus, but varies per campus depending on the size of the program provided. These funds pay for direct training costs.
Students Served: In 2011-12 the FKCE program served over 35,000foster and kinship care providers.
Eligibility Criteria: The target populations for FKCE are foster parents, kinship care providers, and other resource families caring for foster children and youth placed in out-of-home care. If space permits, others who are directly involved with the care of foster children and youth are allowed to participate alongside the target participants.
Critical Issues: a) FKCE programs are actively involved in many new state and federal initiatives, such as the implementation of the CA Fostering Connections to Success program that is extending opportunities for foster youth to receive services through the foster care system after age 18. Education and training for the care providers is essential for the success of these foster youth who will be participating; b) At the same time that both state and federal resources are stretched thin, state and local needs and demands are growing for enhancedcare provider skills and knowledge for those working with abused and neglected children in the foster care system; c)Local FKCE programs are a key partner in working with counties and the state as part of California’s work to make improvements to help meet the federal Children and Families Service Review (CFSR) requirements in the area of training, recruitment and retention of the careproviders; d) Database improvements are a high priority for the FKCE program.