DSW Program

Child Development 0-5 explores the typical milestones, or skills, that children develop from birth through age 5. It offers resources that caregivers can utilize to determine if a developmental screening

Fostering & Adopting At-Risk Children explores categories of at-risk behaviors among children and adolescents that may lead to negative consequences, like poor health, injury or death. It assists foster/adoptive parents

Helping Foster & Adopted Children Transition to a New School will assist foster/adoptive parents in preparing to enroll a child in a new school. It will also provide practical tips

Guiding Your Child Through Adolescence explores the physical and emotional changes that children undergo as they enter adolescence. Parents will discuss how parental roles change during this period of their

Description A Child’s Education: Rights & Responsibilities will inform parents of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The training informs foster and adoptive parents of the processes used to

Adoption: Understanding Your Commitment explores adoption dissolution. It addresses the impact on a child and family when adoption dissolution occurs and offers strategies and resources to prevent it. After completing

Compulsive Lying explores why a child may lie compulsively. It identifies strategies and offers resources designed to assist children and their families dealing with this issue. After completing this training,

Drugs: Things You Need to Know is designed to inform parents of the many different classifications of illicit drugs, as well as the current trends related to adolescent drug abuse.

Keeping Families Strong provides foster parents insight on how to keep partnerships, families and friendships strong while providing care to out of home children. It will also provide strategies for

Recognizing the Signs of Adoption Disruption & Dissolution will teach foster/adoptive parents about adoption disruption and dissolution by equipping them with information regarding factors that contribute to disruption/dissolution, statistics on

Learning to Communicate: Developing Social Skills will equip parents to understand the process of communicating with children, teaching children to communicate with adults and peers, and developing interpersonal social skills.

What to Ask When Called About a Placement will help foster and adoptive parents gather information before accepting a placement of a new child. During the training, participants will discuss

Confidentiality in Foster Care explores the importance of protecting the confidentiality of children in care. It offers strategies for how sensitive information about children in care can be communicated in

Preparing Children for Permanency equips foster/adoptive parents with strategies to prepare children for permanency. It offers insight on the thoughts and emotional reactions that a child transitioning to permanency may

Healthy Boundaries in Teenage Relationships explores healthy and unhealthy dating behaviors. It is designed to assist caregivers in identifying warning signs that a teen may be involved in an abusive

Healing After a Foster Child Leaves Your Home will equip foster parents understand, cope with and heal from the unique pain of a foster child leaving their home. It offers

Attachment & Bonding with your Foster & Adopted Child equips parents to enhance their relationship with foster/adopted children by teaching them the basics about bonding and attachment. This training also

Preventing Child Abuse: Types, Signs & Symptoms will inform parents of the definition of child abuse and ways it can be prevented. It provides descriptions and statistics of different types

Helping Your Child to Succeed in School will increase the ability of foster/adoptive parents to understand educational challenges faced by foster/adopted children. It will give resource parents the tools for

Developmental Stages & Children’s Responses to Grief defines grief and explores how children process and express grief at different developmental stages. It offers insight into the unique experiences of grief

Sibling Attachment & Adoption provides parents with tools to promote healthy sibling relationships in foster and adoptive families. Parents will explore different ways in which families are formed and learn

Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew will equip foster and adoptive parents to understand the thoughts and feelings children who are adopted may experience. It offers strategies

Services & Support for Foster & Adoptive Families will inform parents about resources available to individuals with intellectual disabilities through the Michelle P. Waiver Program, which allows eligible individuals to