Welcome To The RPC Staff Facilitator Training!

The Resource Parent Curriculum (RPC) Staff Facilitator Training is a comprehensive train-the-facilitator event for the National Child Traumatic Stress Network’s Caring for Children Who Have Experienced Trauma: A Workshop for Resource Parents curriculum. This training is provided by staff at the Center for Child & Family Health and is sponsored by the NC Division of Social Services.

RPC is a trauma-informed, 16-hour in-service training that has shifted the way foster, adoptive, and kinship parents work with youth. The curriculum is publicly available, but can be complicated to deliver to parents.

Our Expert Trainers will help future Staff-Facilitators fully understand the curriculum content, provide ample practice opportunities with constructive feedback, and engage in ongoing consultation as trainees deliver their first RPC workshop to parents in their community.

Nomination Process: Trainees are nominated by a supervisor, program manager, or director of a child welfare agency. If you're a private practice owner, or frontline worker interested in nominating yourself, please reach out to [email protected] for guidance.
Nominate A Trainee!

Training Overview

The RPC Staff Facilitator Training year runs from the fall, when the application for the training is released, to the end of the following June (or sooner if workshops are delivered in early spring!)

About 40 hours of virtual training are spread out through an in-person curriculum learning event in Durham, NC, workshop planning calls and a 4-day practice session. Part of the training also involves facilitating a workshop to foster, adoptive or kinship parents with weekly consultation calls hosted by RPC Training Faculty.

Those who successfully complete the training can be listed on the North Carolina RPC Facilitator Roster.
Check out who is rostered and providing RPC in your area now!

Training Logistics

Training Timeline

August & September 2026: Rolling acceptance notifications and orientation call scheduling

January 26th, 2027: Full day curriculum learning event in Durham, NC

February 9-12, 2027: Live Virtual Training (9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. ET daily)

February 2027 onward: Weekly consultation until completion of the parent workshop

Spring 2027: Implementing Parent Workshops  and graduating from the training!

Who Should Apply To The RPC Staff Facilitator Training?

This opportunity is for professionals from public or private licensed child-placing agencies and mental health agencies in North Carolina.This is a fully virtual training so familiarity with technology is helpful.

There are no prerequisites required to be a staff facilitator. We are looking for applicants who are passionate about helping families and sustaining a trauma-informed approach to child welfare.
Everything you need to know before IMPLEMENTING RPC

What makes a CCFH training Special?

  • Deep Dive Into Trauma

    Deepening your knowledge of trauma equips you to effectively communicate these concepts to parents, helping them comprehend the challenging needs and behaviors of children who have been though really hard things.

  • Better Outcomes for Children and Families

    You'll learn how to give parents the tools to understand trauma and help them adopt empathetic and effective strategies for supporting their kids. This can lead to improved parent resilience, stronger family bonds, and ultimately higher permanency rates.

  • Advanced Facilitation Skills

    RPC can cover complex and sensitive topics. Our expert trainers will guide you through advanced techniques like scaffolding knowledge, managing group dynamics, and strategies for holding space for complicated emotions.

  • Community Of Peers

    The training fosters a community of skilled professionals who collaborate to share insights, resources, and strategies. Our frequent use of small groups means you'll get to develop lasting relationships with your co-trainees

  • Practice Makes Perfect

    Our approach builds in lots of opportunity to practice what you learn. In small, friendly groups, you'll have a chance to present the slides, respond to parent questions, and guide activities. By the time you deliver your first workshop, you'll be confident and prepared.

  • A Supportive Environment

    Our training team cares about you! We walk you through every step of workshop delivery from parent recruitment until you deliver your final module. Our compassionate approach to training means your unique skills as a facilitator will be seen and celebrated and you'll have close access to RPC experts for guidance and mentorship.

Characteristics of Effective RPC Facilitators

Is this training a good fit?

  • Experience working with children in adoptive, foster, and kinship care families

  • Willing to learn to respond effectively to the emotional responses/needs of the participants

  • Open to feedback and direction to enhance the facilitation of a RPC workshop

  • Is a good communicator who is able to stay on agenda while conducting the workshop

  • Has the time, capacity, and support to commit to a 40 hour, nine month training

  • Has access to foster/ kinship/ adoptive parents who currently have children in their home

FAQ

  • How much does RPC Staff Facilitator training cost?

    RPC Staff Facilitator Training is free to trainees due to funding from NCDSS. However there are some costs associated with facilitating the workshop required to complete the training.

  • What is the time commitment ?

    RPC facilitator training can be a significant time investment. The training consists of 40 hours of instructional and consultation time in addition to the approximately 24 hours it takes to prepare and implement the parent workshop.

    However! This is spread out several months and we will support you in any way we can along the way!

  • Can I team-up and facilitate with my co-worker who is also in this training?

    Yes, you can co-facilitate a workshop with one other person. However, if you have three or more people from your agency in this training, you will need to provide separate workshops.
    A typical workshop has one or two staff-facilitators and one parent-facilitator.

  • What is a parent-facilitator? Can I be both staff-facilitator and parent-facilitator if I am also foster parent??

    A parent-facilitator is someone with lived experience as a resource parent (or an adult who was in the child welfare system as a youth). We strongly encourage our staff-facilitators to recruit a parent-facilitator to help deliver the workshop.

    Staff-facilitators will be the experts on the RPC curriculum, trauma, and the child welfare system. Parent-facilitators will offer insight and empathy from their lived experience. Parent facilitators do not need any special training! Many of our staff-facilitators may also have lived experience as a resource parent, but for the purpose of this training, we ask that you only wear one hat and keep the two roles separate.

  • Can my workshop be delivered virtually?

    YES! While there are both pros and cons to virtual trainings, we have had many trainees report great success using Zoom or other virtual platforms.

    Our expert trainers have lots of great suggestions for translating the materials and activities to a virtual format

  • Can I deliver my workshop in fewer sessions or shorter hours?

    No. We ask that you deliver the workshop as it is was developed to be delivered: 2 hours sessions over eight consecutive weeks (16 total hours).

  • Help! I still have more questions!

    We have answers! Please contact the training specialist, Julia Fout ([email protected])

What Past Trainees Are Saying

“I received a lot of positive feedback this week from the whole class regarding the invisible suitcase. Several of my foster parents even emailed me afterward saying that they felt like the invisible suitcase was one of the most valuable examples they had ever been given regarding trauma and how to think about trauma and the children they've provided care for. ”

Whitney

“The entire curriculum demonstrates not only the trauma information but how to implement for children AND the caregiver/resource foster parent because it is hard work but rewarding. ”

Anonymous

“I think the most meaningful training moment for me was the planning calls, as we had the opportunity to practice teaching and provide examples, as well as observe our peers teaching and providing examples.
I think the most meaningful concept for me was the Window of Tolerance. It's important for everyone, regardless of our field and our roles, to be able to acknowledge what will cause us to go outside of that window and what those reactions might be. ”

Trainee from '24-25

“The training is a good reminder of why we do the work that we do.”

Trainee from '24

“The suitcase activity brings a more practical way of thinking about what the children have been through and how it may affect them and their behaviors, this was a great way to have foster parents make the connection of trauma and child behavior and think about how they can change their reactions/response in situations with their foster children. I also really liked how we would always come back to their "My Child" worksheet to give them an opportunity to apply what they were learning to thinking more specifically about the child they choose and think about how to react differently based on considering trauma information they have learned”

Trainee '24-25

“I love the consultation calls! It really helped process how we were doing and how we could do things different next time.”

Trainee from '25

“Although RPC Facilitator Training is a time commitment, this curriculum is well worth it and the support provided is phenomenal. ”

Trainee '25

“It seems like a lot of work at the beginning but it is so worth it! The content is awesome and it will help your foster parents and ultimately the kids we work with!”

Trainee '25

“I really loved the concept of the Invisible Suitcase. [...] It's a good reminder for us to look deeper into what a child has been through and what emotions/behaviors that could lead to. It also gives us a better understanding of how to better serve the child.”

Trainee from '25

Visit CCFH.org for more information about the work we do