For schools, agencies, and providers

Foster-Informed™ Workshops, Trainings, and Technical Assistance

Foster-informed practice, built with Fosters. We equip the supportive people walking alongside Fosters, whose decisions shape a Foster's day.

Statewide across Minnesota Virtual, in person, or hybrid Sliding scale, fee for service
See the offerings Request training
Why we do this

Equip the people walking alongside Fosters

What works for Fosters should not stay in one room. Through our relationships, research, reform, and Minnesota Promise work, Fosters have shown what helps them thrive. Our workshops and trainings are one way we spread that knowledge, deepen our work with Fosters, and reach more of the people and institutions walking alongside them.

A Foster’s experience is shaped by a financial aid officer who knows what the Fostering Independence Grant is, a school liaison who knows what the law requires, a program director who builds an advisory group that pays people. Those are learnable practices. That is what we teach.

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Who we work with

Institutions that shape Foster outcomes

Colleges and universities K-12 schools and districts Service cooperatives Counties and state agencies Nonprofits and community organizations Funders and philanthropy Courts and legal partners Foundations and boards
The context you are training into

Why the people walking alongside Fosters matter

These are the conditions our trainings are built for. Every number here comes from Foster Advocates' own published work.

10,000+Fosters in Minnesota
2018Year Foster Advocates was founded
700Fosters using the Fostering Independence Grant in a year
70%FIG retention and graduation rate, 2023 to 2024

Sources: fosteradvocates.org Donate page, Our Approach, and the Foster Education FAQ, page updated 5/5/2025.

What you walk away with

Practice you can use on Monday

Training that ends at inspiration does not change a Foster's experience. Every session is built to leave your team with something they can actually do.

  • Shared language your whole team can use, including what the word Foster means and why we use it
  • A clear picture of the Minnesota programs your students and clients qualify for, and who administers them
  • The specific points in your own process where Fosters most often fall out, named out loud
  • Language you can paste into a handbook, a policy, a syllabus, or an intake script
  • Compensation norms for paying people with lived experience, so advisory work is not volunteer labor
  • A single point of contact model your institution can staff without new headcount
  • Follow-up materials your team keeps, so the learning survives turnover
  • An honest read on what your institution is not ready for yet, and what to sequence first
Offerings

Eight ways to bring us in

Every offering is adapted to your audience on a scoping call, nothing here is delivered off the shelf.

Foster-Informed 101

Shared language, the Foster identity frame, and what the data says about outcomes in Minnesota. The starting point for almost every partner.

Who it’s for
Any staff team, board, or conference audience new to Foster-informed practice
Format
Keynote or training, virtual, in person, or hybrid
Typical length
60 to 90 minutes

Building Foster-Informed Campus Supports

Practical program design for colleges: a single point of contact, basic needs, housing, FIG navigation, and retention practices that keep Fosters enrolled.

Who it’s for
Colleges and universities building or scaling supports for Foster students
Format
Working session, virtual, in person, or hybrid
Typical length
Set on the scoping call

FIG & Financial Aid Navigation for Practitioners

Eligibility, verification, refunds, and the mistakes that cost students money. Built for the people who touch a Foster’s aid package.

Who it’s for
Financial aid staff, advisors, and campus navigators
Format
Training, virtual, in person, or hybrid
Typical length
Set on the scoping call

K-12 School Stability & Foster Care Liaison Practice

ESSA and Minnesota requirements, enrollment and transportation, records, and attendance: what the law requires and how it holds up in a real building.

Who it’s for
Districts, schools, foster care liaisons, and service cooperatives
Format
Training, virtual, in person, or hybrid
Typical length
Set on the scoping call

Authentic Youth & Lived-Experience Engagement

How to build advisory structures that pay people, share power, and avoid tokenizing. Includes compensation norms.

Who it’s for
Agencies, nonprofits, funders, and boards standing up advisory structures
Format
Training or working session, virtual, in person, or hybrid
Typical length
Set on the scoping call

Policy & Advocacy Coaching

How a bill actually moves in Minnesota, testimony prep, and coalition practice, from an organization that has run the play.

Who it’s for
Coalitions, community organizations, and advocacy teams
Format
Coaching, virtual, in person, or hybrid
Typical length
Set on the scoping call

Panels, Keynotes & Speaking

Foster leaders and staff for conferences and convenings, including panels shaped with, not just featuring, people with lived experience.

Who it’s for
Conferences, convenings, and annual meetings
Format
Panel or keynote, virtual, in person, or hybrid
Typical length
Set on the scoping call

Custom Consultation & Policy Review

Audit a program, policy, or handbook for Foster-informed practice, and get back specific changes rather than general encouragement.

Who it’s for
Any institution with a policy, program, or handbook that affects Fosters
Format
Consultation and written review
Typical length
Set on the scoping call
How it works

Four steps from first email to follow-up

  1. Reach out

    Send the request form below, or just email us. Tell us who your audience is and what you are trying to change.

  2. 30-minute scoping call

    We talk through your audience, your context, and what a good outcome looks like, and tell you honestly if we are not the right fit.

  3. Proposal and scope with pricing

    You get a written scope with pricing before anything is committed. No surprise invoices.

  4. Delivery and follow-up materials

    We deliver the session and send follow-up materials your team can keep using after the room clears out.

About fees

Training and technical assistance are offered on a sliding-scale, fee-for-service basis: what you pay reflects the size and capacity of your organization. Fees sustain Foster leader compensation and the advocacy work behind these trainings.

The standard behind the training

Foster-Informed is a standard, not a values statement

Foster-Informed is how we select, prepare, and keep reviewing the partners we refer Fosters to. When you bring us in, this is the framework we are teaching you to meet.

Commitments

What your organization agrees to do differently, written down, so the standard survives a staffing change.

Review domains

The specific areas we look at: resources, relationships, and the opportunities most young adults get informally from family.

Verification

How readiness gets checked rather than assumed. Foster reference checks and community feedback both count.

Our ongoing role

The standard is applied before a first referral and revisited with you afterward. It is an ongoing agreement, not a certificate.

Access is not stability

Moving someone into a program, a dorm, or an apartment is not the finish line. If individualized support ends and the receiving system is unprepared, the young person carries the failure. No Foster should be handed off to a provider the community has not prepared.

See the offerings
Why take policy coaching from us

We have run the play at the Minnesota Legislature

When we coach a coalition on testimony, bill movement, or implementation, we are teaching from wins we stewarded ourselves.

  • 2021Fostering Higher Education ActPassed June 2021. Created a last dollar in grant covering the full cost of attendance at any accredited Minnesota college or university. First awards disbursed Fall 2022.
  • 2021Legal representation for parents, and foster care licensing reformA pilot ensuring parents who cannot afford an attorney are provided one in child protection matters, plus changes to permanent licensing barriers relatives faced.
  • 2022Ombuds Office for Fosters, and Maya's LawTwo laws passed and a third bill advanced in a single session.
  • 2023Foster Success expansionA one time appropriation of $1 million over two years for education support and wraparound services including housing, job and workforce readiness.
  • 2024FIG shortfall closed, and survivor benefits notificationThe funding gap in the Fostering Independence Grants was met. A notification law now requires county agencies applying to be payee for a child's SSI, retirement, or survivor benefits to give written notice and keep accounting records, starting July 1, 2024.
  • 2025FIG fully funded for future yearsFunded in the Higher Education Policy and Finance omnibus bill in the June special session, protecting the roughly 700 students using FIG each year.

Source: the Past Wins page at fosteradvocates.org/past-wins.

Request training or TA

Tell us what you need

Fill out our short request form and our team will follow up with you. Tell us who your audience is and what you are trying to change.

Request training or TA

Prefer email? Write us at info@fosteradvocates.org.

Questions

Before you send the request

What does sliding scale actually mean here?

Training and technical assistance are fee for service, and what you pay reflects the size and capacity of your organization. A statewide agency and a small rural nonprofit do not pay the same rate for the same session. You will get a written scope with pricing before anything is committed.

Ranges are shared on the scoping call.

How much lead time do you need?

Reach out as early as you can. Send the request form with your preferred and alternate dates and we will tell you honestly what is possible for that window.

Can Fosters co-present, not just be featured?

Yes, and that is the point. Panels and sessions are shaped with people who have lived experience of foster care, not just about them. Foster leaders are compensated for that work, and your fee is part of what makes that compensation possible.

Do you work outside Minnesota?

Our policy content is Minnesota specific, because the programs, the statutes, and the agencies are. Foster-Informed practice, authentic engagement, and program design travel anywhere. Tell us where you are and we will say plainly which parts apply.

Do sessions carry continuing education credit?

Continuing education credit is handled case by case. Ask on the scoping call and we will tell you what we can document for your licensing board.

We have no budget identified yet. Should we still reach out?

Yes. Say so in the budget field. Knowing where you actually are lets us scope honestly instead of building something you cannot fund.

What if we are not sure which offering we need?

Check the box that says you are not sure and describe what you are trying to change. Most partners start with Foster-Informed 101 and add a working session once they know where their gaps are.

Will you tell us if we are not a fit?

Yes. The scoping call exists partly so we can say that out loud. If someone else is better positioned to help, we will point you there.

How do you handle accessibility?

Tell us your access needs in the notes field: captioning, interpretation, materials in advance, sensory considerations, breaks, or anything else. We plan for them rather than retrofitting on the day.

What happens after the session ends?

You get follow up materials your team can keep using. For partners who want the standard held over time, technical assistance is an ongoing agreement rather than a one time training.