The foster care system simulation: Evaluation of a training innovation

Although foster care is often spoken of as a system with many interactive facets, foster care personnel often carry out their specific roles with little understanding or consideration of the ultimate impact of that system. A simulation of public foster care service delivery designed to sensitize participants to these interactions is described. Evaluation of the simulation's accuracy in portrayal of actual service delivery and a study of the kinds of learning demonstrated by participants at three points (pretest, posttest, and follow-up) are reported. Participants found the simulation an attractive training method, indicated a greater appreciation of system-wide foster care problems, and reported changes in foster care thinking and work, but other indicators of learning were inconsistent.

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