Identity Year by Year, Birth to 18
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 covers one stage of your child's life and starts with a true story from Michael's childhood as a Black boy raised by a white family in Lincoln, Nebraska. The lesson then shows what your child needs from you at that age, with a real situation and a worked answer, review questions and a printable page. Parents finish with a written plan for the stage their child is in now and the one coming next.
What you'll be able to do
- Tell what a Black child in a white family might be going through at each age, from the first years to leaving home.
- Give your child true words for their own story and your family before other people start asking.
- Build Black mentors, Black friends and Black community into your child's life at every stage.
- Prepare your teen for police stops and for a birth family search, with a written plan for each stage ahead.
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 child development, life story work, intrusive questions, building belonging, preparing for adulthood 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 Lessons
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3Finish and Get Your Certificate