Intro to Adoption Competency for Mental Health Professionals

Course Description

Adoptive families—especially those who adopt children from foster care—often need extra support. Many children who have been adopted, or placed in kinship or guardian homes, have special physical, mental health, and developmental needs resulting from past trauma, drug and alcohol exposure, and multiple and unexplained separations and losses.

Learning Objectives

1. Identify 5 characteristics of adoption competent mental health professionals.

2. Identify the 7 core issues in adoption and how to incorporate them into services provided.

3. Recognize behavior and mental health issues that are impacted by time in care and prenatal exposure to substances.