Who completes the CHAP?
The CHAP measures are completed by the prospective parent(s). If the applicant
family is a two-parent family, both adults should independently
complete the CHAP. The CHAP can be completed by same-sex couples, and
multi-generational applicants.
What will the CHAP measures tell me?
Research and practice have demonstrated the need for assessing a range of
personal and family characteristics in order to identify foster parent
strengths and areas for development. Some of these factors are indicators of
strengths for parents in general. Other factors are specific to foster
parenting. In order to address these factors, we have compiled or developed a
wide variety of measures to assess for cultural competency, engagement in
fostering or motivation, family functioning, family history, family resources,
fostering readiness, parenting style, physical and mental health, and social
support. The scores on the Summary Report will indicate their potential for
fostering in relation to these areas.
When to use the CHAP
Some components of the CHAP are limited by what applicants know about
fostering. For example, applicants might not be able to accurately answer the
Willingness to Foster Scale until they know about the problems and needs of
children in foster care. Other self-report scales don't require that applicants
have information about fostering before they complete the questionnaire. A
general principle is to have applicants complete the self-report measures late
enough in the application process to get accurate information, but early enough
to be useful.
Login Information
The CHAP requires three pieces of information.
Case ID
- a unique number that will identify the applicant family. If your agency does
not assign case numbers, you will need to create one for each applicant family.
Worker Email Address
-Worker email address - the CHAP web application will automatically send a
Summary Report to the worker email address. If your agency does not provide
workers with individual email addresses, a generic agency email address can be
used. We discourage the use of Yahoo, MSN, AOL, and other types of email
accounts as these may not provide adequate security and privacy.
Agency Name - Using the same agency name during log in will
enable you and your agency to obtain aggregate reports across all families.
For your convenience, an "Instruction
for Foster Family Applicant" page is available as a Microsoft Word
document for you to modify and use to provide foster applicant families with
the above information.
Determining Agency Name
Login Information requires entering an Agency Name. If you are affiliated with
an organization or agency, and want to receive CHAP aggregate data reports, the
Agency Name must always be entered the same for your agency.
Agency Names can consist of alpha and/or numeric characters and spaces only, and
are not case sensitive. A minimum of seven characters and a maximum of 25
characters must be used. If your agency has many offices or branches, you may
want to create a standard method for designating different sites. For example,
CaseyWASeattle designates the agency, state and office.
You do not need to contact Casey Family Programs to create an Agency Name.
Determining Case ID
Login Information requires a Case ID to identify the family, and it will appear
at the top of the reports. Case IDs must be alpha and/or numeric, and are not
case sensitive. A maximum of 50 characters can be used.
A Case ID must be unique within your agency. If your agency assigns case numbers
to applicant families, we suggest you use that Case ID. If case numbers are not
assigned, you will need to create a Case ID that can be tracked.
Summary Reports
Two types of reports are currently available:
CHAP Summary Report (For Applicants) - this report contains the
individual responses of all completed CHAP scales and is available to the
applicant after he/she completes the assessment(s).
CHAP Summary Report (For Workers) - this report contains the
applicant's individual responses and scores of completed CHAP scales and is
emailed to the worker after the applicant completes the assessment(s). Important:
Please make sure that the applicant knows to enter the worker's email address
in the Worker's Email Address field when filling out the initial
demographics section. This is the only email address to which scores will be
sent.
