Domestic Initial Core Education
Building Loving Families Through Domestic Adoption
Families Are Forever is an innovative education program designed to prepare adoptive families for the joys and challenges of domestic adoption. In these foundational pre-adoption classes you’ll begin to understand the lives of children who come from a place most likely very different from your own. Rooted in the work of Dr. Karyn Purvis and Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®), these courses will provide a strong foundation for parenting. You will gain the knowledge and tools necessary to best meet your child’s needs as you welcome them into your home and family.
This bundle totals 16 hours of pre-adoptive training.
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Class 101D:
Preparing for the Journey of Adoption
In this class, we’ll explore Dr. Karyn Purvis’ “7 Insights and 7 Gifts” that you can give your child. We draw heavily from Dr. Purvis’ and her colleague, Dr. David Cross’ work throughout this TBRI-centered program and their words will inspire you for the journey ahead. This video introduces the challenges of adoption and the ways you can empower your child to trust and heal.
1.5 Hours • $35
Class 102D
Introduction to Trust-Based Relational Intervention
This class lays the foundation for most of the Trust-Based Relational Intervention teachings of this entire program. TBRI is a proven method for enriching the lives of at-risk, vulnerable children, adolescents, and their families. Much of the information that we’ll examine will be drawn from this material, which includes a 40 minute “TBRI Overview” video.
1.5 Hours • $35
Class 103D
Domestic Open Adoption
This course shines a light on what the possibilities are for both families and children in an open adoption. We approach this topic with realistic expectations and hope for each member of the triad—first families, adoptive parents, and children. Through the voices of experience, we will step into the stories of several experienced families and do our best to cultivate understanding and create intentional steps forward for adoptive families.
2 Hours • $35
Class 104D
Understanding Children’s Development
The mystery of how a child becomes the small person we meet begins with their developing brain and body—how does this development affect their emotional and behavioral make up? In this course, we’ll learn from the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development’s 90-minute video “Children from Hard Places and the Brain.” This video covers topics such as institutionalization and development, and challenges us to think about what it means to come from a hard place. This TBRI-focused teaching will start your exploration of what we hope will be a life-long desire to learn just ‘how and why’ children are who they are, and how we as parents, caregivers and professionals can be an enormous part of their healing. We’ll cover how the brain develops, the impact of loss, trauma and institutionalization and how we can help change a child’s brain development through attachment.
1.75 Hours • $35
Class 105D
Common Medical Conditions
This course will challenge you to think about your understanding of special needs and learn more about how to consider whether or not you are prepared to care for a child with a medical challenge. We’ll cover some common medical conditions and we’ll do our best to provide answers to how to care for a child with special needs. You’ll also hear from families who are parenting a child with a special need and how their life has changed. We’ll leave you with some resources to explore as you consider how to make these very important decisions.
2 Hours • $35
Class 106D
Understanding Attachment
In this class, we will look at what healthy attachment looks like and how our attachment styles as parents, caregivers and professionals can ease our relationship with a child. Understanding attachment is an important part of every relationship—the 90 minute “Attachment–Why It Matters Part 1” video will give you the insights needed to start your own voyage of personal discovery, as well as give you practical TBRI tools for purposeful connection with any child.
1.5 Hours • $30
Class 107D
Developing Attachment
The more you know about how to engage your child in the ‘attachment dance,’ the more healing you’re able to bring, and the more peace there can be in your home. This course offers useful tools for engaging with a child with a history of trauma and loss. This course includes the 60-minute video, “Attachment–Why It Matters Part 2.”
1.75 Hours • $35
Class 108D
Transracial Adoption: Building Cultural Awareness
We are all the same on the inside, but learning to acknowledge, celebrate, and understand cultural differences but “blending” as you become a conspicuous family is a life-long journey. Take some steps with this course in deepening your sensitivity and opening your heart for those who are different from you. We’ll explore transracial adoption and care giving from the point of view of both adoptive parents and transracial adoptees.
1.5 Hours • $35
Class 109D
Developing an Adoption Profile
Creating an adoption profile, whether a book or video, that highlights how and why your family is prepared to bring an adoptive child into your home, is an important step. In this class, we’ll examine the best practices and examples of adoption profiles that you can use to create your own profile.
1 Hour • $25
Class 110D
FASD for Adoptive Families
A child with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders can display a range of behaviors both challenging and puzzling to parents. From signs and symptoms to diagnoses and treatment strategies, we’ll hear from medical professionals and adoptive families who have experienced, and are currently walking the daily adventure of raising children with FASD.
1.5 Hours • $35
To enroll in the complete Domestic Adoption Bundle – Classes FAF 101D – FAF 110D – click the button below:
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Additional Courses
Class 111
Medical Conditions | FASD Overview
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders are the result of exposure to alcohol before birth that causes physical changes to the makeup of cells in the brain. In this class FASD expert Eileen Devine comes alongside parents to examine the behavioral symptoms of this spectrum disorder and how an individualized support plan is essential for parenting a child with an FASD diagnosis.
1.5 Hours • $35
Enroll in Class 111
Class 113
Supporting Children During Medical Encounters
From surgery to shots at the pediatrician’s office to taking pills, medical encounters of any kind bring their own challenges and potential fears for you and your children. This will course will provide insight on how to prepare yourself and your child for medical encounters, tips for regulation and support during a procedure, office visit or hospital admission, and how to process and recognize success afterwards.
1.5 Hours • $35
Enroll in Class 113
Class 140
First Family Heritage Search
As you build a trusting, life-long relationship with the child who has joined your family through adoption, one of your goals for them is to build a strong and resilient identity. To do this, it’s important to aid in understanding and honoring their birth culture and birth family. What does that look like in international or domestic adoption? Let’s explore together.
2 Hours • $30
Class 141
Sharing Your Adopted Child’s Story
Preparing for conversations and questions ahead of time and practicing intentional responses to meet the needs of your child, is wise. In this course we’ll cover ways to help your child understand adoption, how to navigate your child’s understanding of their story, and how to know what is “age appropriate.” We’ll also provide practical tools for how to navigate sharing pieces of your child’s adoption story.
2.5 Hours • $40
Class 201
The Importance of Playful Engagement
In this class, we’ll discuss how to confront challenging moments through playful interaction, and provide practical tools for daily encouragement for children with a background of trauma. This class also explores ways to make play fun for yourself and your child, and why play can often be difficult for adults.
2.0 Hours • $60
Class 202
Healing and Healthy Touch
Science, and our own hearts tell us that everyone needs physical affection, but it can be difficult to know how to approach a child when touch has been absent or abusive in their lives. This course offers practical tools based in TBRI for how to be affectionate with a child with a history of trauma and loss, as well as how to recognize and bring healing to sexualized behavior and introduce a child to your family culture of healthy touch. The 40-minute TBRI video, “Healthy Touch” is included in this course.
2 Hours • $60
Class 203
Exploring the Sensory World
This course explores the ways in which we experience the world through the 5 senses and different coping mechanisms for sensory overload. In this segment, we’ll also discuss the importance of respect for our own, as well as our children’s bodies. The 90-minute TBRI-focused video “A Sensory World” is included in this course.
2 Hours • $60
Class 204
Healing Through Attachment
Through an attachment assessment and detailed narratives, you’ll learn about the 4 types of adult attachment styles and discover your own attachment inclination. Gaining insight into individual strengths and challenges becomes a valuable tool in enhancing attachment in all of your relationships.
3 Hours • $90
Class 205
Your Story: Healing & Attachment
Central to this class is the wisdom we’ll draw from Michael Orlans and Terry Levy and their book Healing Parents: Helping Wounded Children Learn to Love and Trust. Resources and valuable insights are provided to help parents and caregivers develop trust and create healthy self-worth in every relationship.
4 Hours • $120
Class 206
Nurturing Secure Connections
Every parent and caregiver wonders what is going on in the minds of the children they care for. Actions, behaviors, words, and deeds can baffle the mind of the most caring and rational adult! In this course, we’ll explore the possibility that everything a child does stems from his or her natural desire to learn, explore, and grow, to launch and return to a secure embrace.
2 Hours • $60
Class 207
Parenting From a Secure Base
The longing to ‘belong’ is central to every heart. The practical, grace-filled examples of TBRI principles—empowering, connecting, and correcting—will become the bedrock of the foundation you are building as you care for children. The 120-minute video “Empowering, Connecting, Correcting” is included in this class.
3 Hours • $90
Class 208
The Importance of Forming Bonds and Cocooning
In this class, we’ll remind you of the importance of cocooning and forming lasting bonds, what sort of transitional challenges could be ahead, give you some ideas for honoring your child’s origins, and maybe even pique your curiosity about how we want to support you and stay connected as your family grows.
2 Hours • $60
Class 301
Siblings and Family Integration
Foster care and adoption impacts each individual in the family differently. Adding a new family member, and all of the likes, dislikes, passions, and personality that come along with them, can throw the groove off of even the most flexible of families. Having realistic expectations, practicing the possibilities, and remembering what’s already true about your family, helps makes for an easier transition when adding a new brother or sister. This course will address the needs and concerns of both parents and children already in your home.
1.5 Hours • $45
Class 302
TBRI for Teens: Connecting with Older Children
Meeting the needs and bonding with a teenager or an older child who has a history of trauma and loss, comes with its own set of challenges. A teen who is beginning to question their situation, identity and relationships can require a whole new list of best practices for parents, caregivers and professionals. In this course we’ll introduce the short video “Toxic Stress & the Brain” as well as the two-part series, “TBRI for Teens.”
2 Hours • $60
Class 303.1
TBRI: Empowering, Connecting, Correcting Part I
This course provides the practical examples and role-playing needed for parents, caregivers and professionals to learn how to empower children to physically and emotionally attune to a safe caregiver. You’ll come away with the tools and encouragement needed to connect with children in a meaningful, healthy way, while also learning strategies to help them course-correct when things get hard. The first session of the video “Empowering, Connecting, Correcting” is included in this course.
2 Hours • $60
Class 303.2
TBRI: Empowering, Connecting, Correcting Part II
This course continues the practical examples and role-playing needed for parents, caregivers and professionals to learn how to empower children to physically and emotionally attune to a safe caregiver. The second session of the video “Empowering, Connecting, Correcting” is also included in this course.
2 Hours • $60
Class 304
Facilitating Behavioral Change
Discover the science behind the behaviors of vulnerable children. Dr. Purvis provides dozens of examples of TBRI strategies to deal with the behaviors of the children you care for who’ve come to you after experiences of trauma and loss in their lives. It’s a joy to watch Dr. Purvis bring order, security, and contentment into tough situations with children. The 86-minute video “Facilitating Behavioral Change” is included in this course.
2 Hours • $60
Class 311
Talking to Kids About Race and Racism
Family should be the place where children feel precious and beloved. It’s also the place where their identity is nurtured and strengthened. When everyone in the family doesn’t ‘match,’ we have the unique opportunity of learning and growing together, and then championing the differences. What you say and (often more importantly) what you don’t say as parents and caregivers will be foundational to the identity your child takes into their teens, young adulthood, and the rest of their life. This course includes resources from Be the Bridge, a faith-based organization that believes in truth-telling, humility, respect, confession, grace, and justice. It will help you guide the thinking, reading, and conversation around race and racism for your whole family.
3 Hours • $90