Adoption Competency Curriculum - Trainer's Guide - Family Assessment and Preparation Module
National Child Welfare Resource Center for Adoption (2008)
Presents a comprehensive curriculum that explains the process of adoption of children and youth from the child welfare system.

Ongoing Connections: Parenting Curriculum Trainer's Guide (PDF - 1444 KB)
Sturgeon (2007)
Designed to prepare prospective adoptive parents interested in offering a permanent family to older youth in the foster care system. It will assist them in exploring the importance of permanence for the youth as well as the benefits gained when the youth maintain connections with significant people from their past after they join a family.

Selected Resources

Enhancing Permanency for Older Youth in Out-Of-Home Care: A Bulletin for Professionals
Addresses the specific challenges of permanency planning with older youth, discussing the importance of focusing on older youth, barriers to permanency, strategies for successful permanency planning, and promising programs. (PDF - 214 KB)

A Call to Action: An Integrated Approach to Youth Permanency and Preparation for Adulthood (PDF 190 KB)
Casey Family Services (2005)
Discusses the problems youth face when aging out of foster care without a permanent family, and calls for an integrated approach to youth permanency and preparation for adulthood.

Field-Initiated Research on Successful Adolescent Adoptions (PDF 1065 KB)
The Center for Child and Family Studies (2004)
This study of families who adopted adolescents examined adolescent, family, and systems factors associated with successful adoptions.

Plan, Prepare, and Support to Prevent Disruptions
North American Council on Adoptable Children
What workers, agencies, legislators, and individuals can do to prepare and support children and parents throughout the adoption process and prevent disruptions.