Raising Family: Caring for a Grandchild, Niece or Nephew
Plain-spoken lessons for grandparents, aunts, uncles and family friends raising a child whose parents can't take care of them right now. A 2-hour training with a certificate.
What this course is
This is the second course in the Family Who Stepped In series. It's for relatives and close family friends raising a child because the child's parents can't, whether you're licensed or not. It fits families with a caseworker and families who worked it out on their own. Grandparents raising grandchildren, aunts and uncles raising nieces and nephews, older brothers and sisters, and family friends who stepped in will all find themselves here. It's taught by an adult adoptee and longtime educator, in plain words you can read on your phone or print out.
What you'll be able to do
- Step into the everyday parent role without losing the bond you already had with the child.
- Keep the child out of the middle when their parent is your own son, daughter or sibling.
- Explain at each age, in true and simple words, why their parent can't care for them right now.
- Read hard behavior after loss and trauma as a message, and respond with calm and steady limits.
- Set boundaries around contact and find the help, records and legal answers your family needs.
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
Agencies can license this course for all of their foster and kin families. 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
-
1Start Here
-
2The Six Lessons
-
3Finish and Get Your Certificate