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Home / Education & Events / Foster Care & Adoption Training

Foster Care & Adoption Training

Foster Care Training Resources to Meet Minnesota Education Requirements

The state of Minnesota requires that foster care and foster care adoption families complete a number of classes in order to complete their licensure as foster parents. We’ve compiled a number of these required training opportunities below. The requirements are subject to change, so please confirm with your social worker that you’ve completed all training requirements.

In addition, we’ve included resources for optional training you can take to increase your knowledge and preparedness.

Mandatory Training

Orientation

There are two steps you must complete to start your process of fostering or adopting kids in Minnesota foster care: a two-hour orientation and a two-day class. Many families find it helpful to attend the orientation first because it provides an overview of the process and addresses details such as children served, timelines, fees (spoiler: there are practically none), licensing requirements, etc. Orientations are held twice monthly, once in-person and once online via webinar.

Register for a Foster Care Adoption Orientation Class

Foster Care & Adoption Education Class

Another early step is attending our two-day Foster Care & Adoption Education Classes. These classes (16 hours total) will familiarize you with the children in foster care—including those waiting to be adopted—the needs they commonly have, and the foster care and adoption process. You will also have the opportunity to listen to panels of adoptive parents and waiting or adopted teens.

Register for a Foster Care & Adoption Education Class

Normalcy and Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard Training

Children and youth in foster care need to experience the same types of developmentally appropriate and social activities that their friends, families, and classmates who are not in care experience. A new law permits foster parents, designated corporate foster care staff, and residential staff to allow foster children to participate in normal childhood activities by applying the reasonable and prudent parent standard.

Each applicant is required to watch this training and complete the corresponding quiz prior to licensure.

First: Watch the YouTube video of the Normalcy and Reasonable Prudent Parent Standard Training Next: Complete this verification form and submit it to your worker

You may find it helpful to also access these resources:

  • PowerPoint slides from the 2016 Virtual Presence Communication (VPN), Normalcy and Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard Training (PDF)
  • Minnesota’s Normalcy & the Reasonable & Prudent Parent Standard (PDF)

Child Passenger Safety Training (Car Seat Training)

Each applicant is required to watch this training prior to licensure, if approved to foster a child age 7 or younger.

Visit the Minnesota Department of Safety Website to Find a Class in Your Area

Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID) and Abusive Head Trauma (AHT) Training

Each applicant must complete the trainings and verification form, if approved to foster a child age 5 or younger.

First: Visit the DHS site to complete this training Next: Complete this verification form and submit it to your worker

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders 

Applicants must complete this training within the first 12 months of licensure. After the first 12 months of licensure, training on fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) may be part of the 12 hours of the required in-service training per year.

The FASD training should include any of the following keywords: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, Alcohol-Related Birth Defects, Alcohol-Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder, Partial Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, or Prenatal Exposure to Alcohol. The training must be approved by your worker in order to count towards annual continuing education for licensure. The keywords come directly from DHS licensing and must be included in the titles/descriptions of the trainings.

Visit Anoka County’s Website for Mandatory FASD Training

Children’s Mental Health

Applicants must complete two hours of Children’s Mental Health (CMH) training prior to licensure. This initial two-hour requirement is fulfilled as part of our two-day Foster Care & Adoption Class (listed above). After the initial requirement, applicants must complete at least one hour of CMH training as part of their 12 required annual training hours.

The CMH training should include any of the following keywords: Attachment, Trauma, Depression, Resiliency, Medication (psychotropic), Autism/Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Anxiety, Bipolar, Behavior Disorders, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Development, or Eating Disorders. The training must be approved by your worker in order to count towards annual continuing education for licensure. The keywords come directly from DHS licensing and must be included in the titles/descriptions of the trainings.

Optional Educational Resources

While these trainings are not required by the State of Minnesota, we believe our families may be interested in learning more with the resources below.

Optional Webinars

We have a number of webinar options available on our On-Demand Webinars page. They cover a variety of topics such as older child adoption, adopting children living with specific needs, trauma, supporting your child’s racial identity, openness in adoption, the adoption tax credit, and more. All of these webinars are free.

Visit Our On-Demand Webinars Page
Optional Creating a Family Podcasts

Our families can access all of the adoption podcasts at Creating a Family for free! There are over 100 podcasts available on a wide range of topics so we’re sure you will find at least one that will help you prepare for bringing your child(ren) home.

To gain free access, first, ask your social worker for the coupon code, then:

  1. Visit the Creating a Family Adopt Ed section
  2. Find the podcast that interests you and click “Add to Cart”
  3. Then view your shopping cart as if you were going to check out. On the shopping cart, apply the coupon code provided by your social worker.
  4. The shopping cart will refresh with no balance. Complete your checkout and you will be emailed a link to access the podcast.

You can use this coupon code for as many educational resources as you like.

Optional Resources by Topic

Abuse & Neglect

Websites

National Child Traumatic Stress Network – Resources for Parents & Caregivers

This website includes a wealth of resources for parents, including information about the effects of abuse and trauma, effective treatments for children, and a glossary.

Child Welfare Information Gateway – Understanding the Effects of Maltreatment on Brain Development

This is an easy-to-understand bulletin for professionals about the effects of maltreatment on brain development in infancy and early childhood.

Child Trauma Academy

Articles, videos, and an e-newsletter about how to help traumatized and maltreated children.

United States Department of Veterans Affairs Factsheet – PTSD in Children and Adolescents

A factsheet about the signs, symptoms, and causes of PTSD in children and adolescents.

American Academy of Pediatrics – Parenting after Trauma: Understanding your Child’s Needs

A guide to understanding trauma and helping your child learn to trust.

Project Pathfinder

A local resource for families looking for consultation or therapeutic help about sexualized behaviors in children or sexual abuse.

Stop It Now! Minnesota

This website includes links to factsheets about sexual abuse, a link to sign up for a newsletter for parents of children with sexualized behaviors, a pdf that can help you create a family safety plan, and many more resources.

Books

Parenting the Hurt Child: Helping Adoptive Families Heal and Grow by Gregory C. Keck and Regina M. Kupecky

Adopting the Hurt Child (Revised Edition): Hope for Families with Special Needs Kids by Gregory C. Keck

Adopting the Sexually Abused Child by McNamara

Adoptive Parenting

Websites

Children’s Success Foundation – What is the Nurtured Heart Approach?

This approach offers tools and methodology that focus on a child’s inherent greatness. This website includes an overview, training, books, and additional resources.

FosterClub’s Online Training for Foster Parents

FosterClub is a site for foster youth and foster parents. This section of the website includes free training for foster parents about birth families, the court system, education, mental health, special needs, and transitioning children into adulthood. During the period in which you are foster care licensed, you can use these courses towards your continuing education requirements as well.

Books

Adopting the Hurt Child (Revised Edition): Hope for Families with Special Needs Kids by Gregory C. Keck

Parenting the Hurt Child: Helping Adoptive Families Heal and Grow by Gregory C. Keck and Regina M. Kupecky

Adopting the Older Child by Claudia L. Jewett

A Child’s Journey Through Placement by Vera I. Fahlberg, M.D.

Telling the Truth to Your Adopted or Foster Child: Making Sense of the Past by Betsy Keefer and Jayne Schooner

Toddler Adoption: The Weaver’s Craft by Mary Hopkins-Best

The Good Enough Teen by Brad Sachs

Beneath the Mask: Understanding Adopted Teens by Debbie Riley and John Meeks

Attachment

Websites

The Child Trauma Academy – Bonding and Attachment in Maltreated Children

An easy-to-understand online course about the attachment consequences of emotional neglect in early childhood.

Nancy Thomas Parenting- Families by Design

A great deal of information about attachment problems, adult attachment, trauma and attachment, parenting, therapy, school issues, and an extensive bibliography of books related to attachment.

Books

Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today’s Parents by Deborah D. Gray

Parenting the Hurt Child: Helping Adoptive Families Heal and Grow by Gregory Keck and Regina M. Kupecky

Building the Bonds of Attachment by Daniel Hughes

Child Development

Websites

The Search Institute – Developmental Assets

This website is designed to provide parents with information about how to build a child’s developmental assets so that they can “grow up healthy, caring, and responsible.”

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry – Normal Adolescent Development

A brief fact sheet about typical adolescent development.

Child Welfare Information Gateway – Adoption and the Stages of Development

A helpful article about how various adoption-related issues (e.g. grief and loss, identity, separation) are expressed as your child moves through the different stages of development.

Books

Why Do They Act That Way?: A Survival Guide to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen by David Walsh

Understanding Child Development: For Adults who Work with Young Children by Rosalind Charlesworth

A Child’s Journey through Placement by Vera Falhberg

Grief & Loss

Websites

RESOLVE – The National Infertility Association

Information about infertility, local support groups, and grief and loss related to infertility.

Child Welfare Information Gateway – Helping Adopted Children Cope with Grief and Loss

Resources that can help families understand and help their children with the loss and grief associated with adoption.

North American Council on Adoptable Children – Ambiguous Loss Haunts Foster and Adopted Children

Article that acknowledges losses and offers strategies for parents to help the child deal with it.

Books

Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief by Pauline Boss

Helping People with Developmental Disabilities Mourn: Practical Rituals for Caregivers by Mark A. Markell

The Children Who Lived: Using Harry Potter and Other Fictional Characters to Help Grieving Children and Adolescents by Kathryn A. Markell and Mark A. Markell

Helping Children Cope with Separation and Loss by Claudia Jewett Jarrett

Openness in Adoption

Websites

Adoptive Families Magazine – Understanding Open Adoption

A short article about the complexity of open adoption.

PACT: An Adoption Alliance – Birth Parents, Birth Family in Adoption

Catalog of articles relating to birth and adoptive families and navigating relationships.

Adoptive Families Association of BC – Openness

The website section breaks down openness and offers further reading on the subject.

Child Welfare Information Gateway – Open Adoption and Contact with Birth Family

Offers an overview and additional links to more information.

Social Work Today – Social Media and the Post-Adoption Experience

An article that explores the complexity of birth family contact via social media.

Books

Telling the Truth to Your Adopted or Foster Child: Making Sense of the Past by Jayne Schooler and Betsy Keefer

Making Sense of Adoption: A Parent’s Guide by Lois Ruskai Melina

Special/Identified Needs – Commonly Seen Diagnoses

Websites

Proof Alliance

A national leader in promoting awareness about the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure and advocacy for individuals and families impacted by fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD).

British Columbia’s Ministry for Children and Families – Parenting Children Affected by Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: A Guide for Daily Living

This is an extensive description of FASD issues including concrete ideas for parents.

National Institute of Mental Health – Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Details about the symptoms of and treatments for ADHD.

LDA Minnesota

A local resource for families whose children have ADHD that offers workshops, support groups, and tutoring services.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

ADHD fact sheets with information on symptoms, treatments, and other helpful resources.

National Institute of Mental Health – Depression

Details about the symptoms of and treatments for depression.

National Alliance on Mental Health – Teen Depression

Signs of depression, ways to help, how to care for the entire family that is affected by depression.

Families for Depression Awareness

Details about the symptoms of and treatments for depression.

National Institute of Mental Health – Anxiety Disorders

Details about the five most common anxiety disorders and information about available treatments.

American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry – Anxiety Disorders Resource Center

Information and resources on anxiety disorders specific to children and adolescents

National Institute of Mental Health – Eating Disorders

Symptoms of the three main eating disorders and information about available treatments.

The Emily Program

A local treatment program for eating disorders. This website includes information about warning signs.

Getting Help

MNAdopt – Choosing an Adoption Therapist

Advice for parents on choosing a therapist.

MNAdopt – Find Qualified Minnesota Adoption Therapists

Traits of a therapist knowledgeable of working with children in the adoption process.

Child Welfare Information Gateway – Selecting and Working with an Adoption Therapist

Description of the types of help available, questions to ask during a phone interview, and how to determine if a therapist is the right “fit” for your family.

Transracial Parenting

Time Magazine – The Realities of Raising a Kid of a Different Race

Article from an adoptive mother’s perspective on her experience as a transracial parent.

Iowa Foster and Adoptive Parents Association – Transracial Parenting in Foster Care and Adoption: Strengthening your Bicultural Family

A guidebook for parents and children in transracial homes with information about how to help children in transracial families thrive and how to help children gain a strong sense of racial identity.

PACT: An Adoption Alliance

A site addressing issues for adopted children of color, including a list of Transracial/Interracial Adoption Articles and White Privilege, among other subjects.

A Project of the American Anthropological Association – Race: Are We So Different?

A fascinating look at race through three lenses: ‘Lived Experience, ‘Human Variation’, and ‘History’.

MNAdopt Fact Sheet – Resources on Race, Racism, and Racialized Violence

Book recommendations separated into themes for children, teens, and adults to talk about race and adoption.

Books

An Insider’s Guide to Transracial Adoption by Gail Steinberg and Beth Hall

In Their Own Voices: Transracial Adoptees Tell Their Own Stories by Rita Simon and Rhonda Roorda

In Their Parents’ Voices: Reflections on Raising Transracial Adoptees by Rita Simon and Rhonda Roorda

Black Baby, White Hands: A View From the Crib by Jaiya John

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