Whether you are starting your first adoption or your tenth, you are sure to notice the importance that agencies, both homestudy agencies and placement agencies, are placing on adoption education and preparation.

As children adopted in the 70’s have grown into adults that can give feedback on what it is like to be adopted, social workers and other professionals have learned a lot about what is important to help a child, especially a transracially adopted child, thrive in an adoptive family and become a happy, confident adult.

One example of this is the importance of acknowledging, discussing and learning about race and racial issues. In the past, adoptive parents were encouraged to have a “color blind” approach. The result of that was many adult adoptees who, while knew that they were very loved in their adoptive family, grew up unprepared for the racial realities in the world in which we live and have struggled with issues related to race and culture. Today, adoptive parents are strongly encouraged and often even required to some extent to embrace their child’s culture, heritage and race. Families are not supposed to be colorblind, they are supposed to talk about differences. Adopted children are not to be sent out in to the world unprepared for racism, but it is something that parents much teach their kids about, prepare them for and support them through when it occurs.

Here is an awesome opportunity for parents to educate themselves, whether they have adopted already or are preparing to do so. Adoption Learning Partners provides online courses for adoptive or perspective adoptive parents and certificates are available for parents that need proof of education for their adoption process. These courses are nice because they are available at your convenience at your home computer, which is great for people who do not live near places that offer classes or for people with lots of little kids that have trouble getting out of the house.

Currently the available courses include “Conspicuous Families”, “Let’s talk Adoption”, “The Journey of Attachment”, “Finding the Missing Pieces”, “Your Child’s Best Advocate”, “Understanding the Adoption Tax Credit”, “With Eyes Wide Open” and “Lifebooks”. Most of the classes have no enrollment fee, but a $30 fee if you need a certificate.

The courses were designed to provide high-quality education that is easy available to adoptive parents and others in the adoption community no matter where they live. If you need adoption education for your adoption, or if you are just looking to better educate yourself on adoption issues, you can visit Adoption Learning Partners for more information on how to take an online course.