Before You Begin
Prior to Training: Participants should review the Ongoing Standards, especially the following sections:
- Confirming Safe Environments
- Contacts During Ongoing Service
- Reconfirming Safe Environments
- Confirming and Reconfirming in Group Homes and Qualified Residential Treatment Centers
- Appendix V – Placement Danger Threats.
You can access the policy by clicking here
Placement of a child may be necessary to assure child safety or provide specific services or sanctions to a child. Part of the child welfare responsibility assumed when placing a child is assuring it is a safe placement for this child at this point in time. When placement continues, assuring that the placement is safe is an ongoing assessment issue and responsibility.
The Confirming Safe Environments Online Training includes the pre-requisite Safety Overview for Non-CPS Staff training required for youth justice staff and designees. The Confirming Safe Environments Online Training provides staff who do not have CPS responsibilities with an overview of safety decision-making and on the process and practice of assuring child safety in unlicensed homes, foster homes, group homes and qualified residential treatment centers.
The Safety Overview for Non-CPS Staff section of the training will explore Wisconsin’s definitions of when children and youth are safe and unsafe. CPS assessment tools, decision making processes and intervention strategies to enhance participants’ understanding of that system and support mutual work on behalf of children, youth and families are explored.
The Confirming Safe Environments section of the training examines the process for assuring safety from the point the need for placement is determined through the duration of the placement. The assessment for confirming and re-confirming the safety of the placement setting for a child is explored including: components of the assessment, information gathering to support thorough assessments and implications of the assessment for child welfare decision making. Placement Danger Threats are a particular focus.
Which Confirming Safe Environments Online Training Should I Complete?
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Access, Initial Assessment and Ongoing CPS Professionals
Access, Initial Assessment and Ongoing CPS Professionals – since you are required to complete pre-service training, the Confirming Safe Environments content has been integrated into the web-based pre-service training as one of the modules and is sequenced after the Safety pre-service module to assure that you have the pre-requisite understanding about child safety prior to completing the Confirming Safe Environments pre-service module
- By completing the web-based pre-service training, you complete both the required pre-service training and the required Confirming Safe Environments training
- It is recommended that you complete pre-service training within PDS Online as completion of pre-service, including the Safety pre-service and Confirming Safe Environments modules, is documented on your PDS Online transcript
- More information about the required pre-service training can be accessed by clicking here: https://wis.wcwpds.wisc.edu/pre-service/
Youth Justice Professionals & Designees
Youth Justice Professionals & Designees
You have two options for completing the Confirming Safe Environments Online Training, which now includes the pre-requisite Safety Overview for Non-CPS Staff training
- Complete the training in PDS Online – if you have a PDS Online account, it is recommended that you log into your PDS Online account, search for “Confirming Safe Environments Online Training”, and complete the course; if you complete the course within PDS Online, it will be documented on your PDS Online transcript
- Complete the training outside of PDS Online – if you do not have a PDS Online account and do not need one, complete the Confirming Safe Environments Online Training by accessing the modules on this page
- There are two parts, with a total of eight modules, which make up the Confirming Safe Environments Online Training. You should complete the “Part 1: Safety Overview for Non-CPS” modules before completing the “Part 2: Confirming Safe Environments” modules. At the end of each module, there is a certificate of completion. It is recommended that you print off and maintain a copy for your records or provide it to your supervisor.
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Learning Objectives
Upon completion of the Confirming Safe Environments online training, you will be able to:
- Describe your role in child safety in families and how your role intersects with child protective services.
- Explain, on a basic level, Wisconsin’s definitions for the terms: safe, unsafe, present danger threat, impending danger threat and parental protective capacities.
- Describe strategies to keep children safe.
- Define your role in assuring safety for children in out-of-home care.
- Organize your CSE work into the larger responsibility for safety, permanency, and well-being.
- Implement standards, steps and timeframes for effectively Confirming and Reconfirming Safe Environments in out-of-home care placements.
- Integrate the use of Placement Danger Threats with procedural requirements for out-of-home care placements.