Training for Adoptive Parents

Resources address curricula and materials offering postadoption training to adoptive families on topics such as talking about adoption, grief and loss, the use of lifebooks, transracial parenting, and more. Resources include State and local examples.

ADHD: A Guide for Families
Henderson (2006)
Features a video and accompanying booklet developed to help parents understand attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Includes information on common signs of the disorder, treatment options, strategies for supporting school success, and working with teachers and doctors as a team.

Adoption Learning Partners
Provides online courses for adoptive parents on a number of topics, including helping children cope with grief and loss, creating lifebooks, understanding attachment, and more.

Connect: Supporting Children Exposed to Domestic Violence: In-Service Training for Resource Families
Family Violence Prevention Fund
Provides basic training on the dynamics of domestic violence to help foster parents, adoptive parents, kin caregivers, and others support children who have been exposed to violence. The 3-hour curriculum, which includes a PowerPoint presentation, videos, and other tools, addresses the impact of exposure to domestic violence on children and presents strategies for supporting these children.

Foster Parent College: Training for Adoptive, Kinship and Foster Parents
Provides online, interactive courses for resource families and examines topics of common concern to parents, such as running away, sexualized behavior, sleep problems, fire-setting, and anger.

Training
North American Council on Adoptable Children
Lists training topics provided by the North American Council on Adoptable Children that are available to foster and adoptive parents, adoption professionals, and parent support group leaders.

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State and local examples

Child Welfare Training
Institute for Human Services
Provides training for managers, supervisors, caseworkers, and foster/adoptive parents in Ohio on a variety of topics.

Current Training Schedule
Iowa Foster and Adoptive Parents Association (IFAPA)
Provides a calendar of 3- and 6-hour training sessions available to Iowa foster, adoptive, and kinship families. All of IFAPA's trainings are approved for foster parent credit toward renewing a foster care license.

Foster/Adoptive Parent Resource Center
Center for Development of Human Services (CDHS) & SUNY Buffalo
Provides course descriptions and materials for online New York State foster/adoptive parent training offered by CDHS. The training is delivered live through the use of virtual classroom software, which enables users to connect and communicate online and participate in a live, instructor-led session.

The Maine Post-Adoption Resource Guide
Child Welfare Training Institute (2005)
Provides a descriptive list of the services and information most often needed by adoptive families in Maine.

Oregon Post Adoption Resource Center Training
Lists Statewide training for Oregon DHS adoptive and assisted guardianship families.

Practical Parenting for Adolescents 12 to 17 Years
Pennsylvania Child Welfare Training Program
Provides information on practical parenting approaches for adolescents, including positive discipline techniques and best practice standards for parenting adolescent children.

Practical Parenting for School Age Children 6 to 11 Years
Pennsylvania Child Welfare Training Program
Provides information on practical parenting approaches for school-age children, including positive discipline techniques and best practice standards for parenting school-age children.

Training Opportunities
New York State Citizens' Coalition for Children (NYSCCC)
Provides information about training events across New York State and links to online training resources for foster and adoptive parents.

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