About TAC

TAC In The News

News Release – November 19, 2020
Center for Adoption Support and Education received accreditation of its Training for Adoption Competency (TAC) from the Institute for Credentialing Excellence (ICE)

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News Release – June 6, 2019
TAC Program recognized by California Evidenced-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare
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C.A.S.E. received accreditation of its Training for Adoption Competency from the Institute of Credentialing Excellence (ICE) in 2020. This makes TAC part of an elite group of certificate programs dedicated to public protection and excellence in practice.

Research shows that children with traumatic experiences of abuse, neglect and abandonment and challenging behavioral and emotional responses are at greater risk of presenting with adjustment problems within their adoptive families. These children’s emotional issues are often complex, and adoptive parents often identify these issues as the primary contributors to family stressors post-adoption.

Access to adoption-competent mental health services is a critical factor in the outcomes for these children and their adoptive families and the success of their adoptions.

Many birth parents also need and are often challenged to find quality adoption competent mental health services to process grief and loss.

C.A.S.E. created the TAC to build and strengthen adoption competency in mental health communities across the United States. The TAC is designed to increase families’ and individuals’ access to adoption competent mental health professionals and to improve the well-being of adopted children and youth and their families.

Special Features

• It is exclusively designed for mental health professionals.
• It has an in-depth clinical focus and is specifically designed to build and strengthen clinical skills
• It is competency-based, using a definition of an “adoption competent mental health professional” and clinical adoption competencies
• It is manualized to ensure high quality replication
• It is rigorously evaluated through pilot testing and replication evaluation.

The Curriculum

The TAC training includes a 72-hour curriculum with one in-home and eleven classroom-based sessions. Six case consultation sessions are embedded in six of the eleven classroom sessions to support transfer of learning to practice.       

TAC Learning Goals and Objectives                                                            

The Case Consultation

The TAC case consultation component is designed to promote further integration of adoption competent knowledge, skills and values that were imparted throughout the training.  Case consultation strengthens students’ ability to incorporate adoption competencies in their clinical practice with adopted persons, adoptive families, and birth parents and extended family members.  C.A.S.E. senior clinicians or C.A.S.E. clinical consultants provide the case consultation component through electronic means.  Each student is expected to present two cases.

Assessment

The Center for Adoption Support and Education, in collaboration with a National Advisory Board and Subject-matter Expert Committee, defined the knowledge, skills, and competencies that serve as the foundation for the TAC program, which currently consists of 12 domains of knowledge covered in 12 modules of educational content. The educational content of the program is aligned to the intended learning outcomes for these 12 domains, as is the final assessment.

Once participants have completed all 12 modules, including the case consultations which are part of the classroom learning experience, they may take the final, 123-item assessment. Program participants are required to complete all 12 modules and pass the final assessment with a score of 70% or higher to be awarded the TAC Certificate.

Additional details about the program and assessment can be found in the Participant Program Manual.

TAC Certificates

For TAC cohorts starting in 2020:

The TAC Certificate Program only grants a Certificate to those who complete all elements of the program and pass the assessment. Certificate holders are allowed to state or advertise that they hold or have earned the Center for Adoption Support and Education (C.A.S.E.) Training for Adoption Competency (TAC) Certificate. A complete list of those who have earned the Certificate can be found in the Directory of Adoption Competent Professionals.

For TAC cohorts starting prior to 2020, the following certificates can be earned:

1. Students who successfully complete the TAC by completing the classroom training and the case consultation component receive an Advanced Clinical TAC Certificate.
2. Students who successfully complete all classroom-based modules but who do not participate in the case consultation receive a Basic TAC Certificate.