Training
Pregnancy Counseling Training
The Pregnancy Counseling Training is offered free through NCFA’s Consider the Possibilities program.
The Pregnancy Counseling Training is an online program designed to give professionals basic knowledge and the tools they need to understand and share the option of adoption on an equal basis with all other options. This training aims to give pregnancy counselors the confidence to comfortably share the option of adoption so that pregnant clients can be empowered to make a fully informed decision.
This free online training can be taken at any time and you may register for the training and take it all at once or in segments at your convenience. You may also revisit the training site later to access the many downloadable resources available to help you share the positive option of adoption.
For $15 Social Workers may receive 2 hours of continuing education credit endorsed by The Catholic University of America, School of Social Work for completing this training. Please use the CEU specific registration link if you would like to take advantage of this.
Already registered? Log in to continue your Pregnancy Counseling Training here.
Intercountry Adoption Journey
NCFA offers an online Hague-compliant training program called The Intercountry Adoption Journey for prospective adoptive parents. Member agencies may be eligible to receive a free preview of the training in order to better serve their clients. All adoption professionals are able to enroll in the Intercountry Adoption Journey at our special rate for adoption professionals. To learn more and enroll, visit hagueadoption.com.
National Adoption Conference
Every year at NCFA’s annual conference, professionals and leaders in the field of adoption learn what is happening at the forefront of adoption policy and practice and how they can play an active role in improving and safeguarding adoption to better serve their clients. Conference sessions highlight the present and growing need for adoption professionals to reevaluate their practices and procedures, be proactive in the field of adoption, and focus on the ways they respond to and serve clients. For more information on upcoming or past conferences, visit our National Adoption Conference page.
Accurate Adoption Language
Words not only convey facts, they also evoke feelings. For example, when a TV show or movie contains language about a “custody battle” between “real parents” and “other parents,” this reinforces the inaccurate notion that only birth parents are real parents and that adoptive parents aren’t real parents. Members of society may also wrongly conclude that all adoptions are “battles.”
Accurate adoption language can stop the spread of misconceptions such as these. By using accurate language, we educate others about adoption. We choose emotionally “correct” words over emotionally laden words. We speak and write using appropriate adoption language in the hope of influencing others so that this language will someday become the norm. Click here to download a list of accurate adoption language.