Different types of adoption often require different types and amounts of preadoption training for prospective parents. Adoptive parent trainings for families adopting from foster care, as well as trainings for kinship/relative families, also vary from State to State and even from one county to the next in county-administered States. Some States train resource families (foster, adoptive, and kinship parents) together using a nationally recognized curriculum such as PATH (Parents as Tender Healers), PRIDE (Parent Resources for Information, Development, and Education), or PS-MAPP (Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting), but other States and agencies may use local versions of these or other curricula. Some States are also using mobile curricula and combining distance learning with in-session trainings.
Many agencies require prospective parents to attend training provided by their agency or by a comparable approved training provider. If you are adopting a child through intercountry adoption from a country that is a party to the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, 10 hours of preservice training is required.
Resources in this section focus on selected trainings, including web-based training opportunities. A sample list of States, with links to their training information, is also included.