Child welfare systems can upgrade their services to foster and kinship families by providing evidence-based support and parenting skills offered by the KEEP® program. The KEEP implementation team provides the planning, training, tools and support necessary to get started and to ensure success and sustainability. Implementation of KEEP involves the following:

• Initial discussions about the model and how it fits with current practice
• Readiness planning including development of an implementation timeline
• Comprehensive five-day training for facilitators
• Weekly coaching support for facilitators
• Implementation progress reviews
• Monitoring of fidelity to the KEEP model
• Ongoing tech support for implementation

Sustainability

After conducting three 16-week groups with intensive support from the KEEP implementation team, facilitators who meet performance criteria can become KEEP certified facilitators. Certified facilitators can continue to run KEEP groups with bi-annual fidelity checks conducted by the implementation team.

To develop your own program infrastructure, certified facilitators can become KEEP local coaches and trainers. This involves five additional days of training and 6-12 months of ongoing contact with the implementation team.