Crossroads has created these pages to help prospective adoptive families and veteran adoptive families to find resources for adoption information on the internet and elsewhere. If you know of a good resource which could be added to these pages, please let us know at kids@crossroadsadoption.com
Additional Training Courses
Below are recommended training courses you may use to supplement your learning and/or complete your adoptive parent education requirements. If you are using them to meet training requirements you must submit a certificate of completion to Crossroads.
Adoption Learning Partners - Available Courses:
With Eyes Wide Open: A Preparation Guide to International Adoption, Conspicuous Families (1.5 hours)
Let’s Talk Adoption: A Lifetime of Family Conversations (2 hours)
The Journey of Attachment (2 hours)
Finding the Missing Pieces: Helping Adopted Child Cope with Grief and Loss (2 hours)
Adopting the Older Child (2 hours)
Medical Issues in International Adoption.
The cost ranges between $30 and $45 per course, which include a certificate. Free courses are also available.
Because They Waited
A seminar series in four DVDs for parents adopting older infants or children internationally. Topics include brain development, the cycles of need and unmet need, internal alarm, sensory integration, attachment and race and culture. Prospective adoptive parents view the series at their convenience and take a test in order to receive the certificate of completion for 10 hours of training.
Adopting Older Children Internationally: Making a decision and coping with post-adoption difficulties
This course includes information regarding the impact of institutionalization and describes the consequences, considerations in deciding to adopt an older child, helping the child adjust and skills and techniques for parenting these children. The course provides 20 hours of training credit and a certificate of completion will be issued upon completion. There are other courses available related to the educational needs of these children.
Adoption Education, LLC
Topics included are: attachment and bonding, behavioral and mental disorders, culture and identity, effects of institutionalization, malnutrition, prenatal exposures, sensory integration disorder, special regional considerations and travel and transition. The courses are designed to promote successful intercountry adoption by education parents about what to expect in the international adoption process as well as potential medical and emotional obstacles their child might face. The entire course provides 10 hours of training credit and includes quizzes and certificates of completion.
Different but Equal
An internet-based interactive class that prepares and educates parents on the many areas of adoption-related issues, and the aspects of adoptive parenting that are necessary to know and practice. The course focuses the differences in adopted children’s issues and the need to parent adopted child differently in many areas. To order email: songen@att.net.
Additional Resources
Adoption Option – In the Know
The Adoption Option Committee is a group of people who promote adoption as a loving choice for the children of unintended pregnancies. Every day in Minnesota, 15 girls under the age of 19 give birth—most choose to raise their babies. Studies show that children of young, single parents are more likely to be victims of child abuse and 83% more likely to also become teen parents.
The In the Know campaign is an effort to recruit teens and train them as peer-to-peer educators. When students understand adoption, more babies are placed for adoption. This effort is non-political, non-religious and provides unbiased, straightforward information about adoption. Adopted teens would be particularly knowledgeable and persuasive in this role.Teens who want to learn about and promote adoption among school friends can call 952-94-0866. Persons who need help immediately can call 1-866-694-BABY.
Camp Masala Indian Culture Camp (sponsored by PIC, ICAN & SILC)
A weekend camp for children of Indian heritage and their families. Our goal is to facilitate our children’s education about Indian culture in a fun environment. Your children will be surrounded by other children who look like them and other families who are built like theirs. The experience of being ‘in the majority’ is invaluable. They look forward to meeting your family and getting our beautiful Indian children together to celebrate their heritage!
Yinghua Academy
A new metro area Public Elementary Charter School with an Emphasis on Chinese Language and culture. The mission of Yinghua Academy is to provide a challenging and comprehensive learning environment that will nurture our students’ natural inquisitiveness and will prepare them to be engaged and productive global citizens. Yinghua Academy will be bilingual (Mandarin / English) and bicultural. During the 2006-2007 school year Yinghua Academy will provide immersion in Mandarin Chinese in Kindergarten and 1st grade and a significant introduction to Mandarin Chinese in 2nd and 3rd grades as well as Chinese cultural experiences in all grades. For more information visit their website.
Minnesota Post-Adoption Resources Directory
Local adoptive mom Barbara Holmes has created the first-ever Minnesota Post-Adoption Resources Directory. The booklet has over 50 pages of contact information for post-adoption support groups, cultural activities, restaurants, services for children with special needs, adoption services, and language resources, for international and domestic adoptive families in Minnesota. The cost is $10. Contact Barbara at bgholmes@earthlink.net or 651-308-5889.
Crossroads Adoption Services Heritage Tours – China
An opportunity for children adopted from China to discover their roots first hand up close and personal, through carefully designed tours for adoptees and their loved ones.
Crossroads Adoption Services, along with our Chinese liaison, Tu Yune, now offer a family-friendly trip back to your child’s country of birth. The trip includes visits to well-known sites such as the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Terracotta Warriors as well a rickshaw tour of traditional Beijing homes and stroll through Xian’s Muslim Quarter.
If permitted, you will visit your child’s orphanage and “find spot.” Families will begin the tour in Beijing, travel to Xian, and from there visit either Chengdu and the Panda Preserve (an add-on experience) or proceed to their child’s province or city. The tour ends in either Shanghai or Guangzhou (depending on your child’s province).
Crossroads provides pre-trip planning for adults (trip details and discussion of how your child might react to the trip), as well as specifically designed child-friendly programs to prepare kids for this emotional adventure. Our Heritage Tour also includes a post-trip debriefing party to help your child create positive memories of their birth country and gain pride in their cultural heritage.
