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Originally Posted By Debbie

I am interested in what training private and state agencies

are providing to families who are interested in adopting

special needs children. What is the content? How many

hours is it?

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Originally Posted By yrand

I went through the county and attended nine weeks of training
two hours a week,18 hours of guest speakers,videos and home study. It was very intense but worth every minute.

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I went through the county and attended nine weeks of training
two hours a week,18 hours of guest speakers,videos and home study. It was very intense but worth every minute.

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Most state agencies will provide just the basic stuff. They will teach some Attachment classes, but in the end they do not teach what you will learn from word of mouth. You need to find a good support group of consisting of people who have adopted special needs children. If you can find a good one then you will have a better chance at understanding these childrens behaviors. I had a friend write a book about her experience with her two " special needs" children. It is called Ground Zero. I wouldn't count on any agencies to really teach you to much about these children. So many of these caseworkers are in denial about Reactive Attachment Disorder. Good Luck

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Originally Posted By yrand

I guess the classes I took were better than most since we had
guest speakers who were adoptive parents of special needs kids, an attorney who specializes in adoption, and a clinical
psychologist who works with the kids, among others. Support meetings are available and there are often volunteer opportunities with adoption services. I feel my instructors
were very upfront about all the issues confronting adopting
these children.

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Originally Posted By Graham

Hi Debbie, most county agencies around here use either MAPP or PRYDE, or adaptations thereof. Most have reduced the number of hours the those models call for. Twelve hours is required as a minimum to get a foster care license. Private agencies tend to offer more, usually twenty to thirty hours. My own agency requires 28 hours and strongly recommends an additional 32 hours of intensive training. The incentive for taking that intensive training is that the foster care payment to the family is three times higher if they are going to adopt a challenging child. We're unusual however. Certainly, a lot of families from county and private agencies receive little or no formal training prior to the child being placed in their home, or even prior to adoption. It is very important that the ASFA targets don't result in even less preplacement training than what has been available in the past.

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Originally Posted By Debbie

I haven't heard of PRYDE. Is it a purchased curriculum?