Durham Adoption & Consultation Services: Welcome

Dear prospective adoptive parent(s),

You are about to embark on the Parent Resource for Information, Development and Education Training course - PRIDE!

This training program will give you an excellent beginning in understanding the skills, knowledge and commitments that foster care and adoption in Ontario requires. It is, though, just the beginning.

Over the next few sessions you will have an opportunity to learn a great deal about the needs of the most vulnerable children in our community, and the critical role you as parents, foster or adoptive, play in meeting those needs.

We hope that you will find your training sessions enjoyable, informative and enlightening, and that we can be helpful to you in making the important decisions ahead.

Welcome to the world of child welfare – and may you find it as rewarding and inspiring as we do.

Sincerely,

Sal Garofalo & Joanne Girardin
Durham Adoption & Consultation Services.

Course Overview

Overview of PRIDE Pre-service Preparation for Adoption Sessions

Session One: Connecting with PRIDE

Session One welcomes applicants to PRIDE. Applicants will learn how the training program is intended to integrate with the process of assessing resource families using the SAFE tools. Session One describes the knowledge and skills (known as "competencies") that resource families need to fulfill their important roles in parenting children through fostering or adoption. The various pieces of legislation that govern and mandate foster care and adoption services are explained.

Session One also acquaints applicants with several regular features of PRIDE. These include: PRIDE Connections (linking classroom learning with life experiences); Making a Difference! (stories illustrating the rewards of fostering and adopting); Key Points (a summary of important information discussed in each session); You Need to Know! (lessons to study at home); and A Birth Parent’s or Previous Caregiver’s Perspective (stories and letters to help you understand the families of children in care or the experiences of children awaiting).

Applicants will view a video that dramatically portrays the experiences of fostering and adopting and will learn how children and families are referred for these services. By the end of Session One, applicants will know much more about the rewards and challenges of family-based care. The composition of applicants in private sector PRIDE training may warrant more emphasis on exploring adoption issues than foster care issues.

Session Two: Teamwork Toward Permanence

Why are family relationships so important to growing children? Session Two examines this question and explores ways in which families support a child's identity, cultural heritage and self esteem. In this session, applicants will learn the value of permanence in the lives of children and how professionals seek to achieve this goal for all children. This session presents tasks that resource parents need to accomplish to help children maintain connections to important family and community (including country of origin) relationships. Applicants will learn why teamwork focused on meeting the needs of children is necessary to promote permanence for children.

Session Three: Meeting Developmental Needs: Attachment

This session reviews the "basics" of child growth and development, with an emphasis on the importance of a child’s need for a sense of belonging. Applicants will consider how important it is for children to form deep and lasting attachments as well as the impact of positive day-to-day parenting on a child’s growth and development. This session introduces the Ontario Looking After Children model for identifying children’s strengths and needs as well as affirming the importance of believing in resiliency and a child’s capacity to succeed in life. Applicants will learn about child maltreatment, neglect and child institutionalization; and about their impact on a child’s attachments, development and behaviour. Ways in which resource parents build positive attachments with children are explored.

Session Four: Meeting Development Needs: Loss

When children are separated from their family, community and culture, an overwhelming sense of loss may impede growth and development. In this session, applicants will learn the types of losses experienced by children who require foster care and adoption services and their impact on how a child feels and behaves. “Pathways through the grieving process” is discussed as a framework for addressing loss issues. Loss is presented as something everyone must face. Applicants will have a chance to consider their own response to losses in their lives. Based on this, they will discuss how they might respond to losses that come with fostering and adopting and how they can help children cope with their losses.

Session Five: Strengthening Family Relationships

This session focuses on how families instill identity, cultural heritage, and self esteem in children. Applicants will review the child welfare goal of returning children in foster care to their families of origin whenever possible. In discussing this concept, applicants will consider how the team can support this goal, known as "reunification."

One way to strengthen family relationships is by supporting contacts between children in foster care and their family members. Session Five discusses the foster parent role in family visitation and how to respond to a child’s reactions around visits. Foster care specific discussions may be briefer for international adoption. Family ties are also discussed as important to adopted children. Session Five introduces the concept of openness in adoption. This session explores how families can meet an adopted child's lifelong need for identity and self esteem.

Session Six: Continuing Family Relationships

In this session, applicants will examine different ways to help connect children to safe and nurturing relationships intended to last a lifetime. Goals for reaching permanence are discussed, beginning with efforts to support families and to unite children with families, including kin, through to adoption. Session Six presents ways to provide lifelong connections to children who cannot grow up in their families, including openness in adoption, planned long term foster care and independent living. The core issues of adoption are discussed in this session and may be expanded upon in discussion for groups composed exclusively of adoptive applicants.

Session Seven: Meeting Development Needs: Principles of Discipline

Session Seven explores the challenge of discipline. It includes definitions of discipline and punishment and discussion about how they are different. Applicants will review policy and practice guidelines about discipline and discuss why physical punishment is not permitted. The session covers the knowledge, skills and personal qualities adults need to instill discipline. Applicants will explore the meaning of a child's behaviour and the factors that influence behaviour. The session offers effective skills practice for resource parents.

Session Eight: Planning for Change

How will your family be different after having a child placed in your care or after adopting a child? Session Eight takes a practical view of what to expect during the first hours, days and weeks of a child's placement in a home. This session explores the long-range impact of placement as well. The challenge of keeping children safe and feeling secure will be discussed with a focus on children who may have been sexually abused. The session ends with a look at how resource families find support from other team members and professionals.

Session Nine: Taking PRIDE-- Making an Informed Decision

In this closing session, applicants will hear from a panel of adoptive families who have completed their journey and are willing to share their experiences while presenting their views and answer questions. Applicants will have a chance to reflect on their own growth in the knowledge and skills required for resource parenting. They will be well on their way toward a final decision about their commitment to becoming adoptive parents.

Payment & Cancellation Policy

Payment can be made by cheque and/or Internet Bank Transfer if using VISA, M/C or Debit.

100% of the payment must be made prior to attending the course.

Refunds:
In the event that you are unable to attend your
training weekend due to illness or unforeseen circumstances, your payment can be
credited towards a future session up to one year from your original registration date

· Cancellation 30 days prior to the course date, with no plan to reschedule: 50% refunded
· Cancellation 15 days prior to the course date, with no plan to reschedule: 25% refunded
· Cancellation less than 7 days prior to the course date, with no plan to reschedule: NO REFUND

In the event Durham Adoption& Consultation Services cancels a course due to unforeseen circumstances or low enrolment, all participants will be notified and their registration will be put on a standby list for the next available scheduled course. Or receive a full refund

Please note: Participants will be charged $30 for any NSF cheques.

Relevant Reading Material

Adoption Across Borders (Rita J. Simon & Howard Altstein)
Adoption is a Family Affair! What Relatives and Friends Must Know (Patricia Irwin Johnston)
All Families are Special (Norma Simon)
Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today's Parents (Deborah D. Gray)
I Don't Have Your Eyes (Carrie A. Kitze)
Parenting Your Internationally Adopted Child (Patti Cogen)
Raising Adopted Children: Practical Reassuring Advice for Every Adoptive Parent (Lois Ruskai Melina)
Talking With Young Children About Adoption (Mary Walkins & Susan Fisher)
The Open Adoption Experience (Ruskai Melina &Sharon Kaplan Roszia)
The Post-Adoption Blues: Overcoming the Unforseseen Challenges of Adoption (Karen Foli, PH.D.)
Toddler Adoption: The Weaver's Craft (Mary Hopkins-Best)
Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew (Sherrie Eldridge)

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