Montana's Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Department of Human Resources Development (CSKT DHRD) is hosting a training session for foster parents, adoptive parents and kinship caregivers September 24 at the KwaTaqNuk Resort.

The topic of the training is therapeutic parenting, and the session will be led by author and licensed clinical professional counselor Kate Cremer-Vogel. A Sept. 17 article by Lailani Upham of the Char-Koosta News provided the following information about the training:

Vogel wrote What Every Adoptive Parent Needs to Know: Healing Your Childs Wounded Heart, a compelling real-life story of a family struggling to overcome the effects of early abandonment and neglect on their adopted children. The book addresses essential therapeutic keys that ultimately brought the family hope and healing.

Ms. Cremer-Vogel uses an empathic approach to help parents bond deeper with their adopted/foster child. Cremer-Vogel believes the primary parent and child relationship is vital to the childs development and complete brain growth. In her training she teaches relational therapy to lead the parent and child into a more meaningful connection and understanding, deepening their mutual trust.

The parenting training is offered to foster parents but open to all parents, social workers and child care providers and teachers that would like to gain more understanding and learn how to effectively reach children.

For more information call CSKT Foster Care Licensor Shaunda Albert at (406) 675-2700, extension 1087.

Labels: foster_families, foster_care, education, recruitment, montana

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Approximately four out of ten adults is considering adoption. Knowing where to start can be difficult and overwhelming. Web sites such as the one established by the Dave Thomas Foundation (www.davethomasfoundation.org) can help would-be adoptive parents familiarize themselves with issues that are important to the adoption process

As the famous father of Wendy's fast food chain, the late Dave Thomas, himself adopted, dedicated much of his life and resources to furthering the adoption of children in foster care in the United States. Visitors to the Web site can send for the fact-filled guide, "A Child is Waiting: A Step by Step Guide to Adoption," in addition to a toolkit that can guide you in introducing adoption benefits to your employer. -- Source: The Daily News Journal (TN)

Using the Internet to educate yourself about options, challenges, and other adoption issues can help you make the best, most informed decision about whether or not adoption is right for you. From finding the right adoption agency to preparing for a home study, the adoption process can be complex and confusing -- but making the effort to learn all you can will make the effort much smoother and far less frustrating.

Labels: adoptive parents, education

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A new study done at Harvard University concluded that adopted preschoolers acquire their new second language in much the same way that infants learn their first one.

Dr. Jesse Snedeker and her colleagues followed children from China adopted by American families. The children were ages 2.5 years to 6 years. The researchers found that the adopted children went through the same stages of learning their new languages as infants. However, the adopted preschoolers went through the stages more quickly, which may mean that they will eventually catch up to their peer groups.

Internationally adopted children face a unique challenge in that they begin learning one language first, and then they move to new homes where they have to acquire new languages without any help from bilingual teachers.

This study appears in the January 2007 issue of Psychological Science.

Labels: international, research, education

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