Course Benefits

What You Will Learn
  • To recognize grief and loss in adoption and what grief looks like in children.
  • To understand how unresolved loss can impact bonding and attachment.
  • To learn strategies to help a future child grieve.
  • To understand CFC’s perspective on open adoption and it’s benefits.

What you will get
  • Learning activities and process questions to help reinforce learning
  • Tools and tips in caring for an adopted child
  • Ways to evaluate your own techniques

Course Curriculum

    1. Introduction

    2. Seven Core Issues

    1. Understanding Loss

    2. Secondary Loss

    3. Understanding Grief

    4. Understanding Grief in Different Ages

    5. Grief Models

    1. Remember and Acknowledge

    2. What is Open Adoption?

    3. My Feelings on Open Adoption

    4. Telling the Story

    5. Helping My Child Tell Their Story

    6. Grief: The Fabric of Adoption

    1. Final Thoughts

    2. Homework

    3. Parent A Homework Responses

    4. Parent B Homework Responses

    5. Extra Resources

    6. Final Assesment

    7. End of Course Evaluation

About this course

  • Free
  • 20 lessons
  • 1 hour of video content

Meet Your Instructors

Shelly Utzke, MAM

Statewide Director of Foster Care

Before becoming the Statewide Director of Foster Care, Shelly served as a Foster Family Specialist, Coordinator, Supervisor, and then the Program Manager at Christian Family Care. Before her employment with CFC, she spent 14 years at A New Leaf serving youth and families. Shelly and her husband fostered children for 25 years and have adopted two children. Shelly earned her associate’s in Early Childhood Development, a bachelor’s in Psychology, and her Master’s in Management.

Nicole Appiah, M.Ed., LBSW

Foster Care and DCS Adoption Program Manager

Before becoming Program Manager of Foster Care and DCS Adoptions, Nicole served as a Foster Family Supervisor at Christian Family Care. Before employment with CFC, she spent 16 years at Department of Children and Families in the state of Massachusetts as an Ongoing and Hotline Supervisor and Ongoing and Hotline/Investigations Social Worker. Nicole earned her Master’s Degree in Education with a concentration in Mental Health Counseling. In addition, Nicole is a Licensed Social Worker in the state of Massachusetts and a Licensed Baccalaureate Social Worker in the state of Arizona.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Why should I take this course?

  • Will I receive a certificate of completion for the course?

    Yes! Every course comes with a certificate of completion that has been approved by the Arizona Department of Child Safety when the last lesson is reached. This certificate will have the learner's name, the title of the course, the credit hours, and the date of completion.

  • Can I watch the courses together with my spouse or do we each have to have our own log in?

    Just like our in-person courses, the pricing is based per participant. Each purchase should be logged under an individual’s name, and only that name will be tied to the proof of participation.

  • What is the format of the course content?

    Each of the courses are made up of a variety of modules with lessons within each. These lessons are made up of short videos to watch. Learners must complete the video before they can advance to the next lesson. There is also a variety of “process questions” throughout each lesson to help learners apply lessons from the videos. Each learner must also complete a final assessment quiz to receive a certificate.

  • Can I interact with other people/instructors in the course?

    Yes! Each lesson has a forum where learners can either post or answer a question for discussion to keep the learning going.