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Right now the case plan is pretty standard. Housing, basic needs met, some form of medical training though no one has set any guidelines on that, and drug program for the mother. Everyone is concerned about my cousins ability to parent so the lawyer is getting parenting classes court ordered (possibly to be completed before seeing turkey again).
What do parenting classes consist of? How long is it and what exactly is taught?
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From what I understand the parenting classes are much like those Child Development classes we take in high school. They are taught how to see signs of need in their children and taught how to meet those needs.
I'm sure there is a bit more to it, but I know they are pretty basic....teach common sense actually.
There might be some techniques that help them with anger management too. I did a parent help line for a few years for these parents. Some of them called when they were feeling like they were going to lose it and I helped talk them down before they would abuse the kids. A lot of the parents were court ordered to go to the parenting classes.
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Same here, parenting classes are a joke. Bio mom and step dad also had "parent mentor" with them for the FOUR months of "supervised" visits at her home. Initially the transport supervisor watched, then just checked in, then they moved to only the parent mentor. It was a joke. The lady didn't have a college degree, wasn't a parent, and had to take like a four hour class. Even so, she reported issues and it mattered not.Personally, I think they do it backwards. There should be trained, well trained, workers supervising visits from day one. Visits should include 15-30 minutes before and after for review with bio parent. I like BEs CW. He recognizes that they can't get a good idea of her parenting in any box of a room so he is trying to organize community visits where they will go to a park, or McDonald or something like that since she has no hometo go to.
So Peanut's mom had to do them and they were one on one during visits...and she let the baby fall off the couch during one of them! Since he was okay - it turned out to be a good thing. She was rude and disrespectful and refused to let them go to her house and try to help her get it ready for the baby to move there. She was discharged from them in March (even though she had not seen the baby since December) as uncooperative and failing to make any progress.So they can be a positive!
I'm not sure if this is useful, but I'm a developmental psychologist at University of California, San Diego, and I recently created an online parenting class on Edx.org that you can take for free, or for a certificate for around $50. It's called "The Science of Parenting", and covers topics like adoption, diet, breastfeeding, sleep, homeschooling, vaccination, autism, food allergies, and so on. Maybe it can be useful (and easier) for some people.
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In NY, I was told to expect to have a kid for at least a year if the bio was taking parenting classes. They deal with anger management, coping and also NA/AA. I've never attended so I don't know. I had a 6 yo and got his newborn brother and RU occurred when bio mom finished her classes. She also had psych evals as she's bipolar and had to have her meds changed.
Parenting classes usually cover child development, discipline, communication, health, and safety. They can last a few weeks to a few months, depending on the program. The classes are designed to help parents build essential skills for raising a child, focusing on areas like behavior management and stress coping techniques.