Adoption-Competent Training

For Mental Health Professionals & Child Welfare Workers

Click on each workshop title to see course descriptions. Unless indicated, presentations require 2 hours. For information and to schedule a workshop, call Valerie Kunsman, MSW at 301-476-8525 or email kunsman@adoptionsupport.org .

Adoption Through the Eyes of Children : A developmental prospective
Beneath the Mask : Adoption through the eyes of adolescents
Beyond Placement - Understanding the Developmental & Psychological Tasks of Adoptive Families
Disruption and Dissolution: What Next?
Facilitator Training for W.I.S.E. UP!
Healing Through Lifebooks
Lifelines for Kids
Overlooked Key to Adoption Success: Educators and Adoption Professionals in Partnership
S.A.F.E. at School
Same Family, Different Stories : Siblings with Unique Adoption Experiences
Second Choice is Not Second Best: Making the Decision to Adopt
The Second Most Important Thing about Adoption : Importance of Birth Parents
Too Many Losses Too Soon : Loss and grief - foster and adopted children
Therapists as Adoption Specialists
Understanding and Working with Prospect/Waiting Adoptive Parents
The Value of Post-Adoption Services

ADOPTION THROUGH THE EYES OF CHILDREN: A developmental perspective. Find out what adopted children comprehend, think and feel about adoption as they develop from the pre-school years through adolescence. This workshop addresses common questions, fears, and concerns adopted children have regarding birth parents, adoptive parents and siblings, extended families and peers. Special emphasis is on the 7 core issues of adoption and on methods for treating ambiguous loss and grief and issues relating to self-esteem, self-value and identity. Also discussed is how non-adopted children perceive adoption and how feedback from peers and other adults can impact adoption adjustment.

BENEATH THE MASK: Adoption through the eyes of adolescents. Adoption influences and intensifies the normal tasks adolescents must accomplish (e.g. separation from parents, identity formation, decisions relating to sexuality, etc.) Struggling with this extra layer of challenges and reconciling their past and future identities can trigger mild and sometimes serious emotional/ behavioral issues both at home and school - particularly adopted teens who are raised by parents of a different race or culture. Debbie Riley facilitates a compelling training session, weaving in some of the teen-written excerpts included in her book, Beneath the Mask: Understanding Adopted Teens . Clinical strategies can be included as part of this program. (1/2 or Full-day program recommended. (Special pre-order book rates also available.)

BEYOND PLACEMENT: Understanding the Developmental and Psychological Tasks of Adoptive Families. This workshop explores the vulnerability risk factors for adoptive parents and compares and contrasts the psychological tasks all parents must experiences with those tasks specific to being adoptive parents. Find out how loss (for both parents and children) c7 February, 2008tlement and claiming can strain one's parenting ability. The developmental tasks of the adopted child will be examined, as they are critical in assessing the family's risk for disruption or dissolution. Strategies for supporting parents will also be presented.

DISRUPTION AND DISSOLUTION: What Next? This workshop defines and thoroughly explains the differences between disruption and dissolution. Find out which three circumstances are related to both disruption and dissolution and learn about current research and case examples. Participants will learn effective strategies to work with families who may be at risk of disruption or dissolution.

FACILITATOR TRAINING FOR W.I.S.E. UP: Empower children to respond to questions about adoption. Developed by C.A.S.E., W.I.S.E. UP! helps children and teens comfortably and securely handle questions and comments that peers, extended family members and others have about adoption. Embraced by children for it's clarity and simplicity, W.I.S.E. up empowers children to decide when, whether and how to answer questions. Participants in this workshop will learn how to teach the program to children and/or parents and will gain certified permission to utilize C.A.S.E.'s W.I.S.E. Up! Powerbook to train families in their own community. (Highly interactive program.)

HEALING THROUGH LIFEBOOKS. A Lifebook is an invaluable tool that helps children document all of the abstract and concrete events along their journey to permanency - adoption. The seven top reasons for creating a Lifebook will be explored, including a therapeutic mechanism to assist the child in processing his/her feelings. Participants will be encouraged to become "investigators" and will find out how to begin tracking information. A diverse sampling of Lifebooks will be reviewed.

LIFELINES FOR KIDS: Strengthening children and teens moving through concurrent planning. Extensive research has proven that Lifelines for Kids - a model of effective therapeutic care for children and teens moving into adoption - promotes strong, healthy and permanent families. Created by C.A.S.E. through the Federal Department of Health and Human Service's Adoptions Opportunities Grant , this program incorporates individual and peer group counseling with creative/therapeutic activities to help children identify their strengths and challenges and to identify and recognize all of the people who have helped them succeed. Program emphasizes the impact of ambiguous loss and offers safe opportunities for grieving and coping in order to help children become more available for strong attachments to their new families. A lifebook will be shared.

THE OVERLOOKED KEY TO ADOPTION SUCCESS: Educators and adoption professionals in partnership. T eachers, counselors and administrators are critical to ensuring success at school for adopted and foster children. Increase your sensitivity and understanding about adoption issues and discover how normal class discussions, comments and activities can trigger discomfort and distress for adopted students. Learn how you can promote informal, positive, and factual information about adoption for all students, help parents and school personnel work together to ensure appropriate educational programs for foster and adoptive students and discover how to ensure collaborative relations between adoption professionals and school counselors. This workshop outlines ways to connect these important systems for adoptees, particularly those with special needs.

S.A.F.E. AT SCHOOL^SM : Support for Adoptive Families by Educators. . Discover how to create a positive, adoption-sensitive environment to benefit adopted and non-adopted children. You'll learn how to weave informal, brief educational moments into already-existing programs and curricula and use five key strategies to open up and manage discussions about adoption in school. Tips for maximizing home-school collaboration are also included. s about adoption. Designed specifically for school personnel, this program can be adjusted to address specific concerns of your school and can be tailored for counselors and school psychologists needing to address the potential behavioral, emotional and learning issues that are rooted in adoption.

SAME FAMILY, DIFFERENT STORIES: Parenting Siblings with Unique Adoption Experiences. Adoptive parents often need to weave different adoption stories into one family. Sibling relationships can be challenged by these differences, (e.g. different amounts of birth story information, varying degrees of contact with birth family members, being adopted at different ages, etc.) A child may perceive his story as "better" or "worse" than his siblings and/or have very different feelings about having been adopted from his brothers or sisters. This workshop explores strategies for handling these differences as children grow and change. It also includes sibling and family issues of families formed by birth and by birth/adoption.

SECOND CHOICE IS NOT SECOND BEST: Making the Decision to Adopt. This workshop is for those considering adoption and professionals working with prospective adoptive parents. The focus is on helping participants understand the process of grief and loss when adoption is not the primary choice for family building. Participants will explore the important questions that must be addressed in order to determine if adoption is the appropriate option.

THE SECOND MOST IMPORTANT THING ABOUT ADOPTION: The Importance of Birth Parents in the Lives of Children. Examine how and why birth parents are critically important to adopted children and discover how adoptive parents' positive and negative attitudes about birth their children's parents directly affects the formation of self-concept and identity. Age-appropriate communication and information, coming to terms with difficult information and adopted children's interest in searching for information or reuniting with birth parents are also discussed.

TOO MANY LOSSES TOO SOON: Loss and grief among foster and adopted children. Learn about the unique losses experienced by children in foster care and adoption and about the critical factors that influence children's reaction to loss. This workshop addresses the 4 psychological tasks of grief work, explores effective healing therapies for children and teens and answers a variety of questions, including: How are children affected by loss? How can professionals help parents understand how and why children's in foster care and adopted children struggle with ambiguous loss? Are there signs that loss might trigger behaviors that can spiral out of control? Are there effective intervention methods for opening communication with children, strengthening transitions and promoting attachment to new families? (1/2 or Full-day program recommended)

THERAPISTS AS ADOPTION SPECIALISTS. Learn the multiple and complex ways that adoption affects all members of the adoptive family and extended family system - from developmental and family life-cycle perspectives. Client needs assessment and treatment strategies will be covered. Issues addressed include: loss and grief, attachment and bonding, identity, self-esteem, and social roles, effective communication strategies, strengthening connections/ relationships within and between extended family members, and current trends in community support services to ensure preservation of adoptive families. (Full-day program recommended.)

UNDERSTANDING AND WORKING WITH PROSPECTIVE/WAITING ADOPTIVE PARENTS. This workshop addresses infertility as a Life Crisis, making the decision to adopt, tools for effective communication and stress management. In addition, to further educate the participants, a child's understanding of adoption from a development perspective is examined. This perspective includes a discussion on the "six stuck spots" and attachment issues.

THE VALUE OF POST-ADOPTION SERVICES. This workshop reveals and explores current research and data which support the benefits that post-adoption services provide to families. Topics discussed include: viable funding streams and successful organizational components that have been developed by various programs across the country. Designed to help organizations make smart decisions about developing effective, widespread programs in other areas, this workshop can be adapted to meet very specific organizational needs. Led by Debbie Riley, who has worked with various state and local jurisdictions to help them develop programs. (1/2 or Full-day program recommended.)