Something I Wish I Had Known Earlier

Hey Mama & Papa Bears ! Today I simply want to share a lesson I learned early in my adoption process that could save you some time.

When adopting or fostering through your state, there will be a 4-8 week training session required by all foster /adopt parents. Each state calls this training something different. In Georgia, it’s called IMPACT training. It’s the training that teaches foster parents and adoptive parents the state’s laws and requirements for adoption and fostering children in the state’s system. The class also covers how to parent children from traumatic experiences. In other words, it’s parenting classes broken into several sessions.

As stated in a previous blog, I began the adoption process through the State of Georgia, known as DFCS. Remember how I was sharing how long the delays were in between correspondences with my DFCS social worker? I waited days and sometimes even weeks for responses. That’s not to undermine DFCS. We were in the thick of COVID, and they were slammed. I understood. However, during the time that I waited, I was offered an opportunity to begin my IMPACT class with a private agency that I had previously interviewed before joining DFCS.

My reason for choosing not to align with this agency was because their program, although impressive, primarily focused on fostering whereas I wanted to adopt. Anyhow, they still had my contact info and thusly included me in a mass email with an invitation to enroll in their IMPACT class. Since I had decided to go with DFCS at that time, I didn’t follow up with their invitation because I thought I could only take classes through DFCS.

Come to find out, after speaking with my DFCS social worker, I could have gotten IMPACT training through any organization as long as they gave me a certificate when it ended ! I kicked myself because I had just missed the enrollment from this private agency, and now that class was full. This meant I had to wait another month to enroll in another IMPACT class. I was referred to other private agencies to get IMPACT training, but all of them were booked out another month as well.

By no means was that a major hurdle, but it is something worth sharing with readers who are in the very beginning stages of their foster/adopt journey. Being armed with this knowledge could save you some time.

I Reiterate : YOU CAN GO THRU ANY AGENCY TO GET YOUR STATE’S PARENT TRAINING AS LONG AS YOU GET THE CERTIFICATE AT THE END.

If you’re going thru DFCS or whatever the governing child authority is in your state, be sure to ask them about this upfront. This way, in between long gaps in correspondence (if they arise), you can utilize your time fulfilling another task. And no worries, these classes are being taught virtually due to COVID. So, you won’t even have to leave the house ! Hope this helps someone. See you in the next post !

~Banessa