Alaska Foster Parent Training: CORE, ACRF, and What Comes After

Many prospective foster parents in Alaska spend weeks trying to figure out where training fits into the licensing process — whether it happens before or after the home study, who delivers it, and how long it takes. The short answer is that pre-service training comes before your license is issued, it runs about 10.5 hours, and it is delivered by the Alaska Center for Resource Families (ACRF) under contract with OCS. Here is what you actually need to know.

The Orientation Step

Before you get into training, you attend an orientation session. This is separate from the Core Training itself. Orientation is a realistic overview of the foster care system — what children in OCS custody have typically experienced, what fostering involves day-to-day, and what the state expects from licensed families. It is also where you receive your initial licensing packet.

In Anchorage and Fairbanks, orientation sessions are scheduled regularly and can be attended in person. In rural areas, OCS offers monthly telephone orientation sessions. If you are in a remote community with limited internet and no easy access to a regional hub, call your OCS regional office to ask about the current format available to you.

Core Training for Resource Families

The mandatory pre-service training is called Core Training for Resource Families. It replaced the previous Foundation Training program and is administered by the Alaska Center for Resource Families (ACRF). The curriculum covers approximately 10.5 hours of instruction and is organized into seven sessions:

1. The OCS system and the role of the resource family
2. Child development and the impact of trauma on behavior
3. Understanding the regulations (7 AAC 67)
4. The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and Alaska Native heritage
5. Attachment and loss
6. Reunification and family contact
7. Mandated Reporter training

Each session runs roughly 1.5 hours. ICWA receives its own dedicated session because it governs a substantial portion of Alaska's children in care — understanding placement preferences and what "active efforts" means in practice is not optional knowledge for Alaska foster parents.

How Core Training Is Delivered

ACRF offers three delivery formats specifically because Alaska's geography makes uniform access impossible:

Live virtual sessions are the most common path. These are scheduled Zoom-format sessions where you interact with a trainer and other prospective families in real time.

Self-paced online course allows you to work through the curriculum independently. This option must be completed within 10 weeks of enrollment. It is useful for families with scheduling conflicts, but requires a stable internet connection.

Self-paced workbook is available for households with limited or unreliable internet. ACRF can mail or arrange delivery of printed materials in areas where online participation is not feasible. If you are in a bush community, ask your licensing worker or call ACRF directly to discuss this option.

After You Are Licensed: The Individual Training Plan

Within 90 days of receiving your foster care license, you and your licensing worker develop an Individual Training Plan (ITP). The ITP identifies specific training priorities based on the children currently placed with you and any skill areas you want to develop.

Annual training requirements for standard foster homes are 10 to 15 hours. Therapeutic foster parents are held to a higher standard — up to 30 hours annually — because of the complexity of the children they serve.

Mandatory second-year training topics include:

• Mandated Reporter refresher (reporting child abuse and neglect)
• The Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard — the framework guiding decisions about children's daily activities
• Advanced modules on ICWA

The Alaska Center for Resource Families

ACRF is the primary support organization for licensed foster and adoptive families in Alaska. Beyond Core Training, ACRF provides:

• Post-placement support groups
• A resource library of training materials
• The Resource Family Advisory Board, which gives foster parents a formal voice with OCS
• Coordination of recruitment and retention efforts statewide

ACRF can be found at acrf.org and is the appropriate first call for training schedules, workbook requests, and support group information.

What Orientation Does Not Cover

Orientation and Core Training give you the regulatory framework. What they do not give you is a plain-language explanation of what happens during a licensing investigation, how to read your reimbursement rate sheet, or what rights you have if OCS proposes to revoke your license. The Alaska Foster Care Licensing Guide is designed to fill that gap — covering the practical realities that the state's contracted training program, by design, cannot address.

If you are ready to begin Core Training, contact ACRF directly through their website or call your regional OCS office to get your orientation scheduled.

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