Training That Transforms Care: The Impact of the Training for Adoption Competency (TAC)

Barriers to Adoption-Competent Mental Health Services Still Exist 

Access to adoption-competent mental health services is a critical factor in promoting positive outcomes for adoptive families; however, barriers still exist to accessing these services. In the recently released national survey involving 500 participants that included adoptive parents, adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive and birth siblings, less than 22% rated the mental health clinicians that they worked with as adoption competent. The TAC’s mission of increasing access to adoption competent mental health professionals for all members of the adoption kinship network is essential in ensuring that children, youth, and families receive the type of support that is helpful to them.

Adoption Competency Matters to TAC Participants, Our Partner Sites, and Their Communities 

Currently, there are TAC sites in 20 states. As a 72-hour instructor-led training, TAC is a significant time and energy commitment for TAC participants and for the TAC sites that partner with C.A.S.E. to improve their communities’ access to adoption competent mental health services. In a recent survey of TAC sites, TAC partners shared their views on why adoption competency training is Important, read what two TAC trainers say about this training:

“Adoption competency training equips professionals with the specialized knowledge and skills needed to support all aspects of the adoption constellation and process. Adoption involves unique emotional, developmental, and identity-related challenges that differ from other family dynamics with which many therapists routinely work. Proper training through evidence-based programs such as TAC ensures that professionals can address issues like trauma, loss, attachment, multicultural understanding of adoption-related needs, and identity in a sensitive and informed way. By doing so, it ultimately leads to better outcomes for adoptive families and helps children, families, and communities thrive and grow.”

“Adoption Competency Training is important because it is not often a specialty that mental health professionals and social workers are trained in during traditional master’s-level graduate social work or other clinical programs. Therefore, there is a huge gap in clinical knowledge despite the overrepresentation of adoptees and their families in seeking mental health services. Writing from my own lived experience as an adoptee, I had very negative and non-affirming experiences with mental health care professionals because the clinicians did not have a TAC lens in their practice. This training can truly make a difference in honoring the actual lived experiences of people touched by adoption and kinship.”