Hostile birth parents who view foster parents as the enemy, may be experiencing intense anger. Aggression is anger in action. The angry birth parent may resort to aggression as a means to respond to the stress of the separation and placement of their children. One approach to diffusing a client’s aggression is communicating synergy (the willingness and desire to work with them) for the benefit of their child.

This workshop deals with the concept of using synergy and goal centric teamwork between birth parents and foster parents. Foster parents will learn the root cause of client’s aggression, why clients may feel they need to use aggression, and useful strategies to help clients transform the energy from aggression into energy for case plan completion.