2021 QPI National Virtual Conference


Conference Videos

QPI Opening Session (CC)

Presenters: Celina Granato - National Coordinator, Youth Law Center | Jennifer Rodriguez - Executive Director, Youth Law Center | Vannessa Dorantes - Commissioner, Connecticut Department of Children and Families | Michael Williams - Deputy Commissioner of Operations, Connecticut Department of Children and Families | Marketa Walters - Secretary, Louisana Department of Children and Families Services | Kim Johnson - Director, California Department of Social Services | Esther Jacobo - Director, Citrus Family Care Network | Rena Moran - Representative, Minnesota House of Representatives

QPI requires a commitment to the idea of the relationship-based approach in order to ensure excellent parenting. This panel of leaders will discuss how they have advanced QPI by ensuring the grassroots level is involved in the process of moving the work forward.
(note: this video is not eligible for relicensing hours)


Connection as Intervention: Supporting Development & Healing Trauma (CC)

Presenters: Dr. Barbara Stroud, PhD - Psychologist, Trainer and Consultant

QPI is grounded in the knowledge that the most effective intervention we can provide children to support healthy development and heal from trauma is strong, enduring relationships with caring adults. Dr. Barbara Stroud, licensed psychologist and internationally recognized expert on early childhood development and mental health, will explain the science behind connection as intervention and teach skills for nurturing the relationships that allow children to thrive. Dr. Stroud will also offer reflections on the insights that caregivers and systems have gained over the past year about the power of connection, and how we can build on those insights as we move forward.
(1.0 hour)


QPI Champions (CC)

Presenters: Sana Cotten - Founder, Unashamed, Inc. | Carol Edwards - Consultant, Youth Law Center | Breanna McMullen - Social Worker, Dakota County | Carlos Perdomo - Lead Foster Care Trainer and Licensing Specialist, Citrus Family Care Network | Kate Schmidt - Founder and President, Foster The City

Join this session to learn more about the dissemination of QPI's new delivery model – The QPI Champions. This model is aimed at getting QPI embedded into culture by training local, internal advocates in QPI values, theory, and techniques. This past year QPI Champions expanded from 10 to 60 people, and next year will bring even more! You will learn what the QPI Champions model is, why it is valuable, and how you can participate.
(1.0 hour)


Kin-First Systems and QPI (CC)

Presenters: Lydia Cooper - Supervisor of Caregiver & Staff Training, A Second Chance,Inc. (ASCI) | Tina Jefferson - Bureau Chief of Child Welfare, Department of Children and Families | Mitch Matthews - Case Worker, Washoe County Human Services Agency | Jessika Holmes - Relative Caregiver | Debra LaBeouf - Kinship Navigator, Heartland for Children | Phyllis Stevens - Community Voice Advocacy Coordinator, Youth Law Center

A kin-first approach to foster care is an important element of building a relationship-based system. It takes more than a philosophical commitment to put kin first: kin have unique needs that systems must address in order to support them in providing excellent care for children. In this session we’ll hear from kinship caregivers and QPI site leaders about innovative ways to meet kinship caregivers’ needs using the values and principles of QPI.
(1.0 hour)


Partnering to Prioritize Relationships for Children (CC)

Presenters: Hon. Thomas R. Duplantier - LA - 15th Judicial District, Division I | Pilar Harris - FL - Juvenile Law Managing Attorney, Children's Law Services | Carole Shauffer - Senior Director, Strategic Initiative, Youth Law Center | Hon. Frank L. Sullivan - NV - Juvenile Court Judge, Clark County | Carrie Toy - Florida Court Improvement Program Director, Office of the State Courts Administrator

Legal partners play a key role in critical decisions that impact children’s ability to maintain connections with the loving adults in their life. Building and strengthening relationships with courts, attorneys, and other legal partners is critical to successfully implement and sustain practices that prioritize excellent parenting. Members of the legal community will share how they are living the QPI values both in and out of the courtroom and provide tips for getting more court partners engaged in the QPI movement.
(1.0 hour)


Through Their Eyes (CC)

Presenters: Jocelyn Mati - Research Organizer, Young Women's Freedom Center (YWFC) | Jennifer Rodriguez - Executive Director, Youth Law Center| Alezandra Melendrez - Freedom Research Institute President, Youth Women's Freedom Center (YWFC) | Marcy Valenzuela - Program Manager, Young Women's Freedom Center (YWFC)

This session will feature recommendations by system impacted youth on improving foster care from a groundbreaking new participatory research report, Through their Eyes, by the Young Women Freedom Center’s Freedom Research Institute. YWFC will share information about the the harmful foster care practices that youth identified as a primary driver of youth entanglement in the juvenile delinquency system, and provide recommendations from youth on how to protect their relationships, improve placement decisions and the quality of care, provide opportunities for self-advocacy, and allow youth to have the childhoods they deserve.
(note: this video is not eligible for relicensing hours)


Case Management Connections to Quality Parenting (CC)

Presenters: Nereida Builes - Permanency Unit Supervisor, Department of Children and Families | Carleen Chisholm - Child Protective Service Program Supervisor, CT Department of Children and Families | Kacie Schwin - Human Services Supervisor, Washoe County Human Services Agency, Reno NV | Kellee Butler - Child Welfare Trainer, Citrus Family Care Network | Cecilia Rivas - Implementation Manager QPI

Excellent case management is critical to ensuring excellent parenting for children in care, so QPI is most effective when case management is fully engaged. In this session, panelists will discuss the best ways to involve case management staff in QPI. Panelists will also explore changes to case management practices that give case managers the tools and support they need to serve children and families through strong relationships.
(1.0 hour)


Quality Parenting Outreach: Using Technology to Transform Foster Care (CC)

Presenters: Tracy Keys - Engagement Manager, Akido Labs, Inc. | Diana Macis - Protective Services, Program Manager, County of San Diego Health and Human Services | Kate Rickord - Senior Director of Treatment & Foster Care, St. David Center | Cecilia Riva - Implementation Manager, Quality Parenting Initiative

Early in the pandemic, several QPI sites rapidly identified and responded to families’ emergency needs through a pilot of a text-based data collection system that we now call Quality Parenting Outreach (QPO). QPO has evolved into a tool to strengthen relationships with families and ensure QPI implementation on the ground. Through 1-minute surveys, sites are receiving feedback on everything from birth and foster parent partnership to customer service issues, and addressing responses on the individual and systems levels. In this session you’ll hear from sites about their experiences with QPO and the information they’re learning.
(note: this video is not eligible for relicensing hours)


Reflective Practice for Building Relationship-Based Systems (CC)

Presenters: Jessica Hoeper, MSW, LISW - Licensed Independent Social Worker and Consultant - Ray of Hope, LLC

Good outcomes for children can hinge on the relationship between the caseworker and consumers. That relationship is influenced by parallel processes: a worker in a system based on compliance and consequences is likely to engage differently with consumers than a worker in a relationship-based system. This session will teach reflective practices that enhance self-awareness, build empathy, and mitigate harmful power dynamics. Workers, supervisors, administrators, and executives will all be able to apply reflective practice not only to themselves as individuals, but to their system as a whole, ultimately recognizing systemic and structural factors that either promote or undermine relationships in child welfare.
(1.0 hour)


Looking Forward | Harnessing the Wisdom of Those Most Impacted (CC)

Presenters: Brandy Hudson, QPI Consultant | Jennifer Fell, Foster Parent and QPI Champion- CT | Shana King, Birth Parent and QPI Champion- MN | Tamber Taylor, Birth Parent and QPI Champion- FL | Maria Batista, Foster Youth, Florida Youth Shine | Aramis Anderson, Foster Youth, California Youth Connection | Yvonne Tates, Resource Parent- CA

A diverse panel of lived experience voices will join for a conversation to share their reflections, insights and key takeaways from this year’s conference. Panelists will provide ideas and recommendations for ways QPI sites can leverage the expertise of youth and parents to support system transformation efforts.
(note: this video is not eligible for relicensing hours)


Recruitment, Support and Retention Through a QPI Lens (CC)

Presenters: Kristin Moore - Chair of the Board, The Wish Project | Carole Shauffer - Senior Director, Strategies Initiatives, Youth Law Center

Learn how to best communicate the QPI brand in all of our efforts to recruit and support caregivers. Suggestions range from use of graphics and language to changing work styles and training.
(1.0 hour)


QPI Farewell Session (CC)

Presenters: Carole Shauffer - Senior Director, Strategic Initiatives, Youth Law Center | Jennifer Rodriguez - Executive Director, Youth Law Center

Join us for our closing session as we want to hear what went well, what could be better and what you plan to do with this information when you leave the virtual conference!
(note: this video is not eligible for relicensing hours)


About Us

Florida's Just in Time Training is a web based service program designed to connect foster parents, kinship or other caregivers with training, peer experts and other resources. Questions are answered and practical solutions to care for children are discussed - all from the comfort of your home or office.

Helpful Videos

Creating Boundaries November 2018
Incarcerated Parents August 2018

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