Training for Adoption Competency: Building a Community of Adoption-Competent Clinicians

Abstract

Training for Adoption Competency (TAC), an advanced, adoption-competency, clinical training program for licensed mental health professionals, was developed in response to the largely unmet needs of adoptive families for high-quality adoption-competent, mental health services. A rigorous ongoing evaluation assessing training delivery, effectiveness, and outcomes has produced strong evidence that TAC is a sound and effective training model that produces changes in clinical assessment and intervention practices that enable clinicians to apply trauma-informed, attachment-based skills to address core adoption issues such as loss, grief, control, and identity. Implications for clinical practice with families touched by adoption and other forms of permanency, research, and training to create an adoption-competent clinical professional community are presented.