The resources and training opportunities on this page are provided by other organisations and are open to all authorised carers in NSW.

While we seek to include content which may be helpful in your journey as a carer, guardian or adoptive parent, this does not replace professional help in any area of caring and protecting self and others. Courses are for educational purposes only.  

Please speak with a member of the My Forever Family NSW, Carer Support Team 1300 782 975 or your agency/DCJ case manager if you have questions or issues relating specifically to your situation.  

Training by other organisations

  • Western Sydney Local Health District - Reparative Parenting Program

    FREE for authorised carers of children in out-of-home care in Sydney.

    Who is eligible to attend?

    • Foster and kinship carers with children or young people in their care long term. Guardians and adoptive parents are also welcome to attend.
    • Carers can be from any area in Sydney (not just WSLHD) and do not require a caseworker.
    • This is NOT a one-off workshop; it is a cohesive treatment program for carers dealing with behavioral and emotional difficulties and particularly placements at risk of breakdown. It is not purely training and education.
    • It requires ongoing attendance, preferably by both carers in the home, for most of the sessions as sessions build on each other.

    Click here for more information on the Reparative Parenting Program and the Alternate Care Clinic.

    Who to contact?

    Email or call and ask to speak to an Alternative Care Clinic team member about attending the Reparative Parenting Program.

    Telephone: (02) 8890 6577
    Fax: (02) 8890 9893
    E-mail: WSLHD-AlternateCareClinic@health.nsw.gov

  • Cultural Competence - Aboriginal Sydney (University of Sydney)

    This open online course is offered by the University of Sydney

    This course explores some of the key themes and capabilities of cultural competence by exploring Aboriginal experiences and narratives of Sydney.

    Course learning outcomes

    1.    Develop knowledge about cultural competence capabilities.

    2.    Develop a deeper and multi-layered knowledge and understanding about Aboriginal peoples, cultures and places in Sydney.

    3.    Develop a greater understanding of how history, cultures and places are represented, contested and interpreted and how that relates to their own context.

    This is a free course, however if participants wish to access graded assignments and receive a certificate, there is a cost ($64). Course participants may apply for a reduced fee for the certificate based on their circumstances.

    Register Cultural Competence

  • Office of the Children's Guardian - Training and Webinars

    The Office of the Children’s Guardian offers free child safe training sessions for people working or volunteering in child-related organisations in NSW. The sessions will provide you with the skills and resources to help you establish more effective ways to manage risk and focus on creating safe environments for children and young people.

    Topics include meeting your obligations under the Working With Children Check and implementing the Child Safe Standards. The workshops and webinars are free but registration is essential.

    OCG webinars and training

  • Free Webinars SAFE series

    The NSW Office of the Children’s Guardian is proud to introduce Sam, Andy, Fiona, Eve and Mandu.  They’re the stars of the SAFE series, a set of four books containing protective behaviour messages aimed at children 2-6 years old.

    Join one of the many sessions that are being run – click on the link below for all dates and registration:

  • Trauma Informed Care – LINKS Training and Support

    LINKS Training and Support develops targeted, evidence-based training and resources in Trauma Informed Care and Problem Sexual Behaviour. Delivering on the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, LINKS Training and Support aims to improve the capacity of carers and caseworkers throughout NSW. Established in 2019, the LINKS Training and Support team is part of DCJ Psychological and Specialist Services.

    Nearly every child in OOHC has experienced at least one traumatic event. LINKS Training and Support equips carers and caseworkers with practical skills and strategies to help children thrive after trauma.

    Caring for children who have experienced trauma can be challenging. These resources will increase your knowledge of trauma informed care, help you better respond to trauma-based behaviours and provide links to relevant support services.

  • University of Sydney Kinship Module

    Learn about Aboriginal Kinship systems

    This online learning module covers the systems of social organisation that traditionally govern Aboriginal societies and explains this significant cultural difference.

    This module will help you to gain a better understanding of:

    • Aboriginal Kinship systems and how they operate
    • Aboriginal social structures and how these are different to Western societies
    • potential conflict in working with people from differing cultural backgrounds
    • how cultural difference impacts upon Aboriginal people in the social systems which operate in Australia (through education, criminal justice systems and the legal system more broadly, etc.)

    Each module section includes a video, a series of related questions and a list of useful resources to help you learn more about the Kinship system.

  • eSafety Commissioner: Free webinars for parents and carers

    eSafety’s guide to online sexual harassment and image-based abuse

    This webinar will help parents and carers to understand online sexual harassment and image-based abuse, (non-consensual sharing of intimate images).

    It is designed for parents and carers of young people aged 13-18.  It will cover:

    • the difference between online sexual harassment and image-based abuse
    • how to report online sexual harassment to social media companies
    • how to report image-based abuse to eSafety and when to report to police
    • where to get support if you feel upset or worried about something that has happened online.

    You can choose to attend the webinar with your teen or share resources with them afterwards from the webinar package.

    Learn how to help young people safely use popular apps including TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube.

    This webinar is designed for parents and carers of young people aged 8-13.

    It will cover:

    • an explanation of the popular apps used by young people
    • case studies, research, and targeted advice
    • ways you can support the young people in your life to have safe, enjoyable online experiences.
  • ‘Because You Care’ FREE Online Training for Carers

    Targeted towards carers of young people in out-of-home care, this training created in partnership with NSW Health is relevant to anyone interested in starting conversations around sexual and reproductive health, particularly with young people who may have had experiences of trauma.

  • Fostering Futures, CatholicCare training

    Supporting Children with Autism

    Date: 3 November 2022, 10am–12pm
    Location: 25-27 Auburn St Wollongong

    This training provides information and practical strategies to support children with autism in areas including communication skills, sensory processing, repetitive and restricted behaviours/interests and social interaction skills.


    Child Safeguarding

    Date: 21 November 20222, 6pm-8pm
    Location: 25-27 Auburn St Wollongong

    Join this session to help improve your understanding of:

    • Charter of Rights
    • Types of abuse & warning signs
    • Responding to disclosures
    • Protecting children & young people in foster care

    RSVP: biancas@catholiccare.dow.org.au

    * The resources and training material provided by My Forever Family NSW on this website include material provided by other organisations. While My Forever Family seeks to include content which may be helpful in your journey as a carer, guardian or adoptive parent, this does not replace professional help in any area of caring and protecting self and others. Courses are for educational purposes only. Please speak with your case manager at your foster care agency or Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ, formerly FACS) if you have questions or issues relating specifically to your situation. Staff must always comply with relevant NSW legislation, including the NSW standards for out-of-home care.

  • Blue Knot Foundation Free Webinars

    The Blue Knot Foundation is a national service focused on advocating and providing support for people who have experienced complex trauma, and those who need to support them personally and professionally.

    Webinar 1: Compassion and Empathy

    Thursday 27 October, 11am-12pm

    This one-hour webinar reminds us of the importance of compassion and empathy, and how we create space to show compassion for ourselves and others. It demonstrates ways we can start to grow compassionate moments for ourselves to build the capacity to heal.

    It will also explore how, if we’re in a caring role, we can experience compassion fatigue and why caring for self is key.

    Join us for this webinar on Blue Knot Day and take some time to reflect on your own well-being.


    Webinar 2: Building Connection to Body

    Thursday 27 October, 2pm-3pm

    This one-hour webinar explores the ways we can start to safely connect to our bodies. It is important to acknowledge that each person has agency over their own well-being, by having internal resources to draw upon. It can support our capacity to regulate and co-regulate with others.

    Join us for this webinar on Blue Knot Day and learn more about ways to create space to start to feel safe in our bodies.

  • Plumtree's Now and Next Program

    Now & Next is an 8-session interactive program that can help you make a positive difference for your child.

    This program helps you to create a clear template to understand what is and isn’t working as your care for your child. Learn to set and achieve goals, change plans and create clear pathways.

    Click here for more information on sponsored groups.

    Click here for more information on NDIS groups.

  • Counselling and Social Support Services (CASS)

    Garry King will be hosting the following training to learn more about children and young people and their behaviour.

    Garry King has extensive experience with working with young people encountering the issues of self-harm and suicidal behaviour. This experience is the result of having worked as a teacher, youth worker and counsellor and complimented by degrees in welfare and education as well as masters degrees in counselling and suicidology.

    He has worked as the youth welfare consultant for the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention. He was appointed an adjunct lecturer, youth welfare at the Central Qld University and is the recipient of a Churchill Fellowship to the USA.

    Garry has written several books on youth welfare and is a speaker at international conferences. He is a peer reviewer for the International Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention.

    Garry is an invited author for the 2020 School Social Work USA. Garry was an invited speaker at the 2018 World Summit on Positive Psychology, mindfulness & Psychotherapy. He was a presenter at the 2016, 2018, 2019 and the 2022 International Society for the Study of Self-Injury conferences in the USA.

    His most recent book “School Crisis Prevention & Intervention” has been released in the USA. Garry continues to work with young people as a school counsellor and at a homelessness service.

     

    Please contact Seak Manor if you would like to know more or the RSVP for the sessions:

    0404668665, smanor@counsellingandsocialsupport.com.au

  • New Street - Understanding autism: Relationships, Sexuality and Pornography

    Most people develop an interest in sex when we reach puberty. Navigating relationships and sexuality and the influences that shape them can be challenging for anyone. For autistic young people, this can be even more challenging. Monotropism, the key characteristic of autism, can mean autistic young people are particularly vulnerable to pressure and coercion, to misinterpreting social cues, and to the impacts of pornography.

    Porn is Not the Norm is the a training session to support parents and carers of autistic young people to understand the interactions between autism, sexuality, technology and pornography, and how we can support autistic young people to navigate respectful, consenting and safe sexuality and relationships. This information session will be held in Newcastle and Queanbeyan.

    Newcastle

    Monday 24th July 2023, 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM
    At John Hunter Hospital – RNC Lecture Theatre – Lecture Theatre 3114, Lookout Rd, New Lambton Heights, NSW
    This event is free for all registrations. Register here.

    Queanbeyan

    Friday 28th July 2023, 09:30 AM to 12:30 PM
    At Queanbeyan South Public School – School Hall, 101 Cameron Rd, Karabar NSW 2620
    This is a free event for all registrations. Register here.

  • Dads Turning in to Kids Group

    Are you a male caring for a child between 3 and 12 years old?

    Join Dads Tuning in to Kids group – a free program for fathers and male carers (case managed by DCJ).

    A great opportunity to meet other men caring for children and learn from parenting stories and share your own, you will also learn to:

    • Help your child cope with frustration, sadness, anger, and worry
    • Support your child to build their social and emotional skills
    • Strengthen your connection with your child
    • Manage the stress of parenting

    This group runs for 2 hours for 7 weeks, with most groups running online.

    To register your interest, fill in the online form here.