Talking About Race at Home
A 2-hour parent training with a certificate, taught by a Black adoptee who grew up in a white family.
What this course is
This is a self-paced parent training for any family raising a Black child in a white home. It takes about two hours, it works on a phone, and it ends with a certificate parents can give their licensing worker or agency.
Each of the six lessons starts with a true story from Michael's childhood as a Black boy raised by a white family in Lincoln, Nebraska. The lesson then gives you words you can use with your child at every age, a real situation with a worked answer, review questions and a printable page. Parents finish with a written plan for the conversations about race they're most likely to face.
What you'll be able to do
- Start regular conversations about race at home before anything goes wrong, with check-in questions that fit your child's age.
- Give your child short, true words for questions about your family and their skin, and practice those words together.
- Respond when your child comes home hurt by racism, at school or within your own extended family, by listening first and then planning next steps together.
- Build Black history, Black culture and Black adults into your child's regular life, and have the police talk calmly and more than once.
How the certificate works
- Take a short opening quiz as a warm-up.
- Work through the six lessons, including the printable page in each one.
- Type your plan right into the course, one line at a time. Each line comes with an example to help you.
- Pass the final quiz with 8 out of 10. Retakes are unlimited.
- Answer a short evaluation, and your certificate for 2 training hours unlocks.
Please check with your licensing worker or agency about how many hours they accept for self-paced training.
For agencies
The course covers the same ground agencies already train on, including effective communication, cultural connections, building belonging, building children's resilience and preparing for adulthood. Agencies can license it for all of their families. Email hello@beyondthemomentadoptionstudio.com to set that up.
About your instructor
Michael Gaither is a Black adoptee who grew up with a white family in Lincoln, Nebraska, and met his birth family for the first time at forty-nine. He spent 30 years in education as a teacher and a principal, and 13 of those years running his own executive leadership coaching business for school principals.
His book, I Was Your Black Child: What White Parents Raising Black Children Need to Hear Before It's Too Late, tells the story of growing up Black in a white household. Through Beyond the Moment Adoption Studio, he helps white parents raising Black children.
Course curriculum
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1Start Here
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2The Six Lessons
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3Finish and Get Your Certificate