Program areas at CASE
Counseling - as a private, nonprofit Support Center for adoptive families, each year c.a.s.e. Provides culturally sensitive mental health services to over 1,672 prospective adoptive parents, foster and adoptive youth/teens, adult adoptee's and their families, in Maryland, northern Virginia, and Washington, d.c. c.a.s.e. Addresses common developmental issues and social-emotional challenges frequently shared by foster youth, adoptee's, and their families. Post-adoption care involves early intervention measures to ensure that adoptive families can thrive. C.a.s.e. Staff are a multi-disciplinary team bringing together expertise in the field of social work, family therapy, trauma informed care, expressive therapy, and Education to address the unique needs of this population. C.a.s.e. Combines best practices and innovation to provide premiere counseling services to advance permanency for children and the healthy growth and development of families. Wendy's wonderful kids, the dave thomas foundation for Adoption has awarded c.a.s.e. A grant to implement the wendy's wonderful kids evidenced based proactive, child-focused recruitment model in the state of Maryland targeted exclusively on moving the longest-waiting children from foster care into adoptive families.c.a.s.e. Has contracted with the Maryland department of human resources to help children aged 18 and younger who have been adopted from foster care to grow in permanent, stable, loving families. This state-wide program delivers specialized post-adoption mental health and educational services and supports. In 2022, 123 families have been served.c.a.s.e. Is leading the northern post Adoption case consortium initiative, partnering with children's home society of Virginia, encircle and nacac through funding from the Virginia department of social services to offer post-adoption case management and clinical services to help adoptive families in Virginia access appropriate services and resources through community-based linkage and referral, Education, and advocacy. In 2022, 218 families have been served.
Education resources and trainings - c.a.s.e. 's training programs and educational forums integrate theory, research, and best and innovative practices designed by our experts in pre- and post-adoption Support to meet the specific needs of local, national, and international foster, kinship and Adoption communities. In 2022, 8,412 registrants signed up for 22 customized trainings and workshops serving parents and professionals, covering a wide array of topics, including 10 monthly strengthening your family (syf) webinar series. C.a.s.e. Also offered three topical, six-week parent Support group series with 372 attended across all sessions. C.a.s.e. Delivered more than 901 in-demand educational webinars to Support families and professionals with 404 of the in-demand webinars being purchased. Additionally, c.a.s.e. Provided 16 trainings and six parent Support groups for nine external organizations to Support their staff and/or constituent needs.
National initiatives - the national Adoption competency mental health training initiative (nti) aims to enhance the capacity of child welfare professionals and mental health practitioners to better understand and address the mental health and developmental needs of children moving to or having achieved permanency through Adoption or guardianship. Through this initiative, child welfare professionals and mental health practitioners in all states, tribes and territories will have access to two state of the art, evidence-informed, standardized web-based trainings to provide the casework and clinical practices to promote child well-being and family stability. It was established in october 2014 through a five-year, $9 million cooperative agreement with the children's bureau, administration of children and families, department of health and human services. The cooperative agreement has been extended through september 2022 with an additional $1 million to continue the implementation nationally. The cooperative agreement was refunded in october 2022 for five years, $10 million, to continue nationwide infusion and implementation within child welfare systems and increase utilization by mental health providers along with updating the curriculum and continuing the evaluation. Since 2019, 31 state child welfare agencies are either hosting or actively promoting nti with their staff and another 20 local, state, and national child welfare or mental health private organizations have integrated nti into practice. In 2022, an additional 2,037 professionals enrolled in nti for a total of 20,373 individuals enrolling in nti since 2017.c.a.s.e. Partnered with spaulding for children, the lead agency, on a national initiative to develop state of the art, culturally appropriate training for foster and adoptive parents and guardians. C.a.s.e. Was the lead in the curriculum development. This initiative was funded through a cooperative agreement with the children's bureau, administration of children and families, department of health and human services. The initiative ended september 2022.ntdc national training and development curriculum - partners include bruce perry/child trauma academy, nacac, national council for Adoption (ncfa) and the university of Washington.
Training Adoption competency (tac) - tac is a national evidenced informed, accredited, rigorously evaluated, manualized training program, developed and owned by c.a.s.e. To provide licensed mental health professionals with the clinical skills they need to provide quality clinical services to adopted persons, birth families, prospective adoptive parents, and adoptive families and kinship families. Tac is competency based, using a definition of an Adoption competent mental health professional and 18 clinical competencies vetted nationally with a national advisory board of Adoption experts, parents, and adopted persons. In 2020, tac received accreditation by the institute of credentialing excellence moving tac to the only Adoption competency training program that is assessment based and credentialed. Since 2009, tac training has been replicated with 167 cohorts, training over 2,483 professionals. In 2022, 20 cohorts of tac were provided by c.a.s.e. and our 19 partner agencies throughout the united states for a total of 252 students enrolled. Refer to www.adoptionsupport.org for specific localities.
Publications - c.a.s.e. Publications educate families, professionals, and the community about the unique joys and challenges of Adoption. C.a.s.e. Staff members continue to author books, articles, and fact sheets to further educate parents and professionals.c.a.s.e. Publications include a monthly e-newsletter, beneath the mask: understanding adopted teens, s.a.f.e. At school, the whole me and w.i.s.e. Up! Powerbook, 52 ways to talk about Adoption, and the newest publication released in 2019, beneath the mask: for teen adoptees.