Description
Training for Adoption Competency (TAC) is a manualized adoption-competency, clinical training program for licensed mental health professionals and child welfare professionals working with families formed through adoption. TAC features a 72-hour, 12-module training curriculum, six 90-minute monthly case consultation sessions, trainer credentialing and support process, and ongoing multicomponent evaluation. TAC students master key clinical skills that support adopted children and their foster, adoptive and kinship families. TAC is typically completed in 18 months, but it can be delivered in a few months, if necessary. TAC is typically conducted in-person via classroom or virtually.
Learn the theoretical framework and therapeutic approach of adoption-competent mental health practice; Develop clinical assessment and intervention skills in working with birth families, children, and prospective adoption parents in planning for adoption; Develop clinical assessment and intervention skills in working with adopted children and youth and adoptive families on issues of loss, grief, separation, identity formation, and attachment; Understand how trauma impacts adopted children and how to use tools and techniques to support recovery from adverse beginnings; Understand the issues that impact identity formation for adopted youth and young adults; Learn how to support adoptive parents in developing therapeutic strategies to use in response to their children’s challenging behaviors; Learn the different types of adoptive families, developmental stages of adoptive families, and the process of adoptive family formation and integration; and develop skills to help families achieve appropriate adoption openness and ongoing connections; Develop an understanding of the racial, ethnic, and cultural issues in adoption and how to work with transracial and transcultural families; and Identify and utilize evidence-based and evidence-informed practices and interventions with individuals affected by adoption.
