Parenting Foster and Adopted Children Across the Lifespan: Strategies for Developmentally Appropriate Care and Discipline

This course provides a developmentally grounded exploration of how to support adopted and foster children across the lifespan, from infancy through adulthood. Participants will examine stage-specific health and safety considerations, ranging from newborn care practices like safe sleep and the foundations of early attachment to the evolving physical, emotional, relational, and cognitive needs of adopted children as they grow. The series will also examine thoughtful, developmentally responsive approaches to discipline that account for trauma, attachment, and identity development, alongside educational considerations that promote engagement and resilience in school settings. The speaker will provide practical, real-world applications that caregivers and professionals can use to more confidently and effectively support each phase of adoptee development.

Susan K. Taylor - Training Coordinator, Consortium for Resource, Adoptive, and Foster Family Training (CRAFFT) at Radford University

Course length: 3.5 hours
Course level: Beginning, Intermediate
Certificate type: This course offers a Social Work CE certificate

Credit type: General CE

After attending this course, professionals will be able to:

• Describe key developmental stages from infancy through adulthood and the health, safety, and attachment considerations associated with each stage for adopted children, youth, and adults.
• Explain how attachment experiences, separation, trauma, and identity development can influence an adoptee’s emotional, behavioral, relational, and developmental needs throughout the lifespan.
• Identify developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed, and nonphysical parenting and discipline strategies that support regulation and positive caregiver-child relationships.
• Give examples of appropriate supports, services, and resources that promote health, safety, identity development, and overall well-being for adoptees across developmental stages, including early intervention, school-based supports, and community resources.

Recorded 8/25/26 & 9/15/26

National Council For Adoption, #1804, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 04/13/2026 – 04/13/2029. Social workers completing this course receive 3.5 general continuing education credits.

This course does not offer credit for NJ or NY social workers. More information on continuing education credits is available on the FAQs tab.