NFAPA has responded to the changing needs of foster care and adoption by offering an array of supportive services and programs. To learn more, use the links located on the left-hand side of this page.
FOCUS Program
This program is a mentoring program designed to support resource families. Trained volunteer mentors are located throughout the state and offer information and resources to families in need.
This quarterly newsletter mailed to over 4,000 licensed and approved resource families, key HHS staff, agencies, and lawmakers. The newsletter provides articles to better assist families in caring for Nebraska%u2019s abused and neglected children, as well as an understanding of the foster care and adoption systems. Resource parents may receive 30 minutes of in-service training hours by answering a simple quiz in each newsletter.
Educational Conferences & Trainings
In addition to the educational conferences, NFAPA provides educational workshops throughout Nebraska to promote continued learning of resource parents.
Publications
Adoption: A Guide for Nebraska Resource Families was a collaborative effort between NFAPA and HHS and serves as a guide for potential adoptive parents interested in public adoption. The guidebook outlines laws and policies surrounding adoption, specifically those concerning subsidies, which have often been misunderstood at many levels within the system.
Resource Parent Handbook serves as a guide for all resource parents and is a useful in understanding the foster care system.
Child Abuse and Neglect Out-of-Home Setting Assessment Guide is a useful tool for resource families to understand the process in which Protection and Safety workers assess a resource family and/or home due to claims of child abuse and neglect.
Resource Parent Guide to Record Keeping is a resource developed by foster parents to help in gathering, documenting and sharing information that is crucial in organizing important information for each individual child living in foster care.
Recruitment and Community Education
NFAPA has launched its own recruitment campaign entitled, "Each One - Reach One." This campaign encourages Nebraska communities to learn more about foster care and adoption through the use of community education meetings. These meetings will educate communities on the need for resource families within their community, child abuse and neglect, who the children are in need of foster care and adoption services, and why families are brought to the attention of Protection and Safety staff.
The campaign also challenges current resource families to extend an invitation to one family and ask them to learn more about foster care and adoption.
Kits for Kids
Thousands of children and youth have entered the Nebraska foster care system because they cannot live safely in their birth parents home. Oftentimes, these children and youth are without any of their personal belongings when they enter a new foster home. "Kits for Kids" provides a bag for these children filled with items of comfort such as a blanket or stuffed toy, personal hygiene items, crayons and coloring books, and small gift certificates to purchase socks, pajamas, or clothing.
Local Parent Support Group
As parents of foster and adopted children, there are challenges that parents have already encountered or may encounter in the future. NFAPA encourages that families build support systems and have a safety net plan available before families need them to deal with crisis. Support groups are a vital component to the safety net and NFAPA is organizing local parent groups statewide.
Toll-Free Information Line
NFAPA has established a toll-free information line (1-877-257-0176) where current and prospective resource families can call for information and resources.