Becoming a Multicultural Family
A 2-hour parent training with a certificate, taught by an adult adoptee who grew up as a Black child in a white family in Nebraska.
What this course is
This is the second course in the Before They Come Home series. It's for any family whose child's race, culture or birth country is different from their own, including transracial adoption here at home, international adoption, foster care and kinship care. It works for families getting ready for a child and for parents in their first years together.
Each lesson starts with a true story from Michael's childhood, and then turns it into steps you can use at home, out in public, at school and with relatives. You'll work on answering strangers, caring for hair and skin, finding mentors, keeping your child's culture close and talking about racism. The course takes about two hours, and you can stop and come back whenever you need to.
What you'll be able to do
- Answer questions from strangers in a way that keeps your child's story private, and help your child practice words of their own.
- Care for your child's hair and skin, and find a stylist or barber who works with hair like theirs.
- Build adults, kids and other adoptees who share your child's background into your family's regular week.
- Talk about racism in ways that fit your child's age, and get your relatives ready before your child comes home.
How the certificate works
- Take the opening quiz as a warm-up. It doesn't count toward your certificate.
- Work through the six lessons in order. Each one comes with a printable page you can fill in and keep.
- 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 at least 8 out of 10. You can retake it as many times as you need.
- Answer a short evaluation, and your certificate unlocks for 2 training hours.
Please check with your licensing worker or agency about how many hours they accept for self-paced training.
For agencies
This course covers training topics agencies already use, including building belonging, cultural connections, managing intrusive questions and family dynamics. It also speaks to the Hague topic on the long-term effects on a family that becomes multicultural through adoption. Each lesson lines up with topics from the National Training and Development Curriculum (NTDC) and with the Hague training topics in 22 CFR 96.48(b). Beyond the Moment Adoption Studio isn't affiliated with NTDC. Agencies can license this course for all of their families, and you can set that up by emailing hello@beyondthemomentadoptionstudio.com.
About your instructor
Michael Gaither is an adult adoptee. He was born in Syracuse, New York, and spent about eighteen months in foster care before he was adopted. He grew up with a white family in Lincoln, Nebraska, and met his birth family in person 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 adoptive and foster families understand what their children may be carrying.
Course curriculum
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1Start Here
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2The Six Lessons
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3Finish and Get Your Certificate