Family Education: Conspicuously Online

Conspicuously Online

"Conspicuous Families: Race, Culture & Adoption" is just one of a growing number of quality online education resources for our families, friends, educators, and others who interact with us. This course, developed by Adoption LearningPartners, is targeted toward pre- and post-adoptive families involved in transracial or international adoptions, including those who have adopted through the foster care system.

Online courses like "Conspicuous Families," the "Adoption Road Map Family Preparation Course" from The Learning Center, training courses from Foster Parents Community, and others, are being developed by professionals in the fields of adoption and foster care, education, psychology, law, and other specialties. All of them increase our abilities and capabilities to meet our family's needs, and some of them can be applied to pre-placement requirements for both adopting and foster parents.

A New Development, Made Easier on the Web

The history behind this kind of training is relatively recent. Some amount of initial foster parent training has been required since the post WWII period. In the 1980s, some agencies began requiring ongoing education hours for foster parents, like refresher courses, as a way to keep them on top of the latest child care trends. Most of these hours were earned at conferences. In the 1990s, some agencies decided that if foster parents should be required to undergo training, so should adoptive parents, especially since waiting kids can present such a variety of special challenges.

What began as a trickle is now a nationwide practice. Virtually all agencies require or at least strongly encourage adoptive parent training classes. The Internet, of course, just makes it easier to complete the hours: no parking, no weather worries, no babysitters needed.

Positive for All

Agencies - both public and private - have found that requiring classes

lowers the disruption rate because parents are better prepared;
frees up man hours, because parents don't have to rely so heavily on workers;
is better for kids because they have better prepared parents;
gives the agency some liability protection if something goes wrong. It shows that they really do try to prepare their prospective parents instead of just tossing them into the parenting arena.

As an indication of how quickly this change has come about, a friend who adopted in 1991 had never heard of adoption classes. When she adopted again more recently, in 1997, there was a firm policy requiring them for everyone in Oklahoma!

Courses vary by type, curriculum, and cost. Be sure to read details of courses of interest, and learn about the course developers and content. Whether or not your agency requires a particular course or series of courses, I encourage you to explore this new way of increasing your knowledge to benefit your family.

Start Here:

To take advantage of the many courses available, check our growing listing of Education Resources.

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