Custom Child Welfare Training Created Specially for You.

Families Rising works with public and private child welfare agencies, associations, parent groups, and others working with adoption, foster care, and kinship care. We create customized training for adoptive, foster, and kinship parents, child welfare professionals, and group leaders.

Our trainers have diverse expertise in foster care and adoption, including lived experience in care, in adoption, and parenting through foster care or adoption.

A man stands at the front of a room appearing to smile in the middle of a training session. Audience members are smiling at one another.

We’ll customize your curriculum to meet the needs of YOUR unique agency.

Ask us how we can improve outcomes for the children and families you serve.

For Families

Request a coaching call with our team! We can offer insight to help you navigate tough situations, such as:

  • Behavioral challenges, including concrete help to deal with raging, lying, and stealing
  • Adoption assistance and the adoption tax credit
  • Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
  • Birth family connections
  • Sibling relationships
  • Crisis situations
  • And more!

For Organizations

While agencies do great work training their families through tough challenges, sometimes you need help navigating big, nuanced topics. That’s where we come in!

Support your team members in topics like:

  • Secondhand Traumatic Stress (STS)
  • Positive supervisory relationships
  • Leadership development and coaching
  • Helping families heal from trauma
  • Navigating birth family connections
  • And more!
Two child welfare professionals, possibly social workers, are sitting at a table with their heads down writing some notes

We’re Here for the Child Welfare Workforce and the Families You Serve.

In the midst of all your agency challenges, you’re expected to keep up with the latest and greatest practices in the child welfare sphere.

Whatever your organization’s budget, we can work with you to create:

  • Multi-day conferences or one-day events
  • Webinar series
  • Virtual or in-person workshops
  • Long-term fellowships and programs (see below!)

And more!

Popular Training Topics

  • Trauma-Responsive Care in Action

  • FASD: Practical Strategies for Support
  • Building Strong Attachment & Lasting Bonds
  • Strengthening Birth and First Family Connections
  • Supporting Children and Families Through Grief and Loss
  • Partnering With Brith Families for Better Outcomes
  • Raising Adults: Preparing Youth for Independence and Life Beyond Care

  • Diligent Recruitment: Building a Strong and Diverse Pool of Families
  • Making the Most of Child-Specific Inquiries
  • Kinship First: Engaging & Supporting Families from Day One

  • Navigating Adoption Assistance: Eligibility & Benefits

  • Adjusting Adoption Benefits
  • Adoption Tax Credit Guidance
  • Advocating for Adoption Assistance

  • Relational Supervision in Child Welfare: Coaching for Connection and Accountability

  • CoachUP: Supervision & Workforce Development
  • RiseUP: Emerging Leaders Fellowship

  • Race, Identity & Inclusion in Child Welfare
  • Recruiting Families of Color: Strategies for Impact
  • Supporting Adoptive and Foster Families of Color
  • Affirming LGBTQ+ Youth & Families

In addition to custom trainings, Families Rising sponsors the most comprehensive adoption and foster care conference in North America,Opens in a new tab plus we offer free and paid webinarsOpens in a new tab.

Our Signature Programs For Child Welfare Agencies and Organizations

Families Rising provides long-term fellowships and programs for your organization to achieve higher recruitment, retention, and well-being of your child welfare professionals. Make sure your employees don’t burn out and leave, and keep them sustained and healthy for the long run.

RiseUp Fellowship

Build confident, reflective, and effective leaders.

What is RiseUp?

Format: 6-9 month cohort-based leadership program

Outcomes: Increased leadership confidence and clarity, stronger ability to lead through complexity and change, enhanced capacity to center equity and lived experience, and development of internal leadership pipelines

CoachUp

Develop leaders who intentionally foster growth, accountability, and connection.

What is CoachUp?

Format: 4-8 session series (expandable to longer engagements)

Outcomes: Stronger supervision and coaching practices, improved staff engagement and retention, Increased confidence in managing complex team dynamics, and development of psychologically safe teams

FEATURED TRACK

Adoption Assistance & The Adoption Tax Credit

Learn the intricacies of applying for, transitioning, and problem-solving adoption assistance for your family!

As professionals, learn how to help the families in your area navigate this complex system.

What People Are Saying

“Families Rising trainings, both for professionals and families, have proven to be practical, engaging and filled with strategies that work! The fun and hope-filled trainings encourage attendees to think in new ways about the challenges they face when supporting the kids who needs us most”

—state director of adoption

“The trainings that Families Rising provided were an instant hit with our families. the combination of REAL life situations and practical solutions gave our resource parents a breath of fresh air and hope. The realization that they are not alone and that together we strive for a better future for our children was empowering.”

— founding member, Maryland Resource Parent Association

Ready to learn?

Ask us how we can improve outcomes for your unique agency and family.

Resource library

Find resources, advocacy tools, and support materials for your family or organization.

Custom training

We partner with diverse organizations to bring you customized training led by adoption and foster care experts for parents, professionals, and group leaders.

Families Rising News

Stay informed with the latest news and insights on foster care and adoption issues in the US and Canada. Explore our news posts and don’t forget to subscribe to our e-newsletter for direct updates.

Annual Conference

Don’t miss our Families Rising Adoption and Foster Care Conference, tailored for adoptive, foster, and kinship parents, child welfare professionals, and those with lived experience in adoption and foster care. Join expert-led workshops to address diverse needs in this vital community.