I Was Your Black Child: The Book Study
A 2-hour book study with a certificate, for parents who have read or are reading I Was Your Black Child: What White Parents Raising Black Children Need to Hear Before It's Too Late.
What this course is
This is a self-paced book study 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. The 2 hours cover the course itself, and time spent reading the book is separate.
Each of the six modules looks back at a set of chapters, then turns them into key takeaways, a real situation with a worked answer, reflection questions, review questions and a printable page. Parents finish with a written plan, plus a one-page Training Hours Form for agencies that give credit for reading.
What you'll be able to do
- Explain the three things the book asks every parent to take with them, in your own words.
- Recognize what a Black child's behavior might be saying, including silence, blowups, hiding food and avoiding home.
- Plan regular contact with Black adults, Black families and other adoptees in your child's week.
- Respond with support when your child asks about or searches for their birth family, with a written plan for the moments you're most likely to face at home.
How the certificate works
- Take a short opening quiz as a warm-up.
- Work through the six modules, 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.
Get the book
You can get I Was Your Black Child: What White Parents Raising Black Children Need to Hear Before It's Too Late in paperback, hardcover or Kindle at beyondthemomentadoptionstudio.com/book.
For agencies
The course covers the same ground agencies already train on, including life story work, trauma-related behavior, family dynamics, cultural connections, education and connections with birth families. 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 Modules
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3Finish and Get Your Certificate