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The ASCC project makes Adoption-Sensitive Clinical Care training available through the Understanding Infant Adoption 7 (UIA 7) curriculum. Understanding Infant Adoption is a curriculum that has gone through revisions throughout the years, with different versions available as the curriculum was updated. The UIA 7 curriculum was updated in 2025 with current adoption information and guidance for healthcare professionals and adapted into a variety of additional formats to meet the current training needs of hospital-based staff.
The core UIA 7 curriculum consists of six main modules. The main module topics are included in all available training lengths (1.5 hours, 2.5 hours, 4.5 hours, 6 hours) to ensure that busy hospital-based staff can access the level of detail needed for their role. The six core modules cover:
Participants will become familiar with the adoption process and understand the legal implications of the adoption option.
Participants will learn how to differentiate personal and professional attitudes, experiences, and possible biases related to adoption so that counseling, including the adoption option, can be provided in an objective, non-biased way.
Participants will present adoption as an option objectively and without bias or judgment to patients from diverse backgrounds and make appropriate adoption service referrals.
Participants will increase sensitivity and understanding regarding common influences on expectant parent decision-making.
Participants will apply adoption best practices to the hospital setting, consider the impacts of hospital adoption policy and procedure on expectant parent patients as well as others in the adoption constellation, and reflect on areas within your current hospital adoption policy that may need to be reviewed or revised.
Participants will integrate knowledge gained in Modules 1 through 5 to better understand the expectant/birth parent experience.
In addition to the six modules that make up the core curriculum, supplemental modules are available to enhance the skills and understanding that hospital-based staff (HBS) may need to successfully support adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive parents.
The following are descriptions of the UIA 7 supplemental modules:
This training equips you with the historical knowledge necessary to understand and contextualize modern adoption practice. We examine the shift from harmful past practices to today’s ethical and legally sound frameworks, enabling you to dispel adoption stigma and advocate for your patients. You’ll walk away with practical skills, including how to use neutral, non-objectifying language to respectfully discuss adoption with expectant parents, birth parents, adoptees, and adoptive families. Gain a better understanding of the lifelong emotional complexities for everyone involved in an adoption, ensuring you can provide trauma-informed and supportive counsel to expectant parents considering adoption.
This course offers 1 CE hour. Please refer to the CE Credit Information page for detailed information.
This course will explore the different types of adoption and their processes, as well as potential ways that healthcare professionals can support the parents involved in each type of adoption.
This course offers 1.75 CE hour. Please refer to the CE Credit Information page for detailed information.
This course aims to equip healthcare professionals and social workers with a comprehensive understanding of the unique issues and considerations surrounding birth fathers in the context of unplanned or unintended pregnancies. Participants will enhance their ability to engage effectively with birth fathers, recognizing key opportunities for involvement and support. By the end of the course, professionals will be prepared to provide relevant information and referrals, facilitating a more informed decision-making process for birth fathers as they navigate their experiences.
This course offers 1 CE hour. Please refer to the CE Credit Information page for detailed information.
This course provides an in-depth exploration of compassion fatigue, a condition that significantly impacts healthcare professionals, often referred to as secondary traumatic stress disorder or burnout. Participants will engage with comprehensive content designed to enhance their understanding of compassion fatigue, including its causes and symptoms. The course will also cover effective self-care techniques and strategies for managing and overcoming compassion fatigue. By the end of the course, participants will be equipped with valuable knowledge and practical tools to reduce their vulnerability to compassion fatigue and promote their overall well-being.
This course offers 1 CE hour. Please refer to the CE Credit Information page for detailed information.
The purpose of this course is to equip social workers and hospital professionals with the skills to understand and address the ambivalence women may experience regarding pregnancy, particularly when influenced by complex life circumstances. Participants will learn to identify sources of ambivalence and develop strategies to provide comprehensive support for women navigating these challenging decisions.
This course offers 1 CE hour. Please refer to the CE Credit Information page for detailed information.
This course will provide an overview of types of post-adoption support that may be necessary and beneficial for adoptees and their birth and adoptive families, depending on each family’s circumstances.
This course offers 1.25 CE hour. Please refer to the CE Credit Information page for detailed information.
The history of adoption practices is deeply rooted in themes of secrecy, which have lasting implications for all parties involved in the adoption process. This secrecy has perpetuated myths that can discourage expectant parents from viewing adoption as a viable option.
This course aims to familiarize participants with the principles and practices of open adoption. By enhancing their understanding, participants will be better equipped to educate their patients or clients and address common questions regarding adoption as a choice.
This course offers 1 CE hour. Please refer to the CE Credit Information page for detailed information.
Learn strategies for partnering with adoptive parents throughout their journey. Build skills in preparing families for adoption, understanding trauma and attachment, reviewing child histories, supporting transitions, and connecting families to appropriate services and supports.
This course offers 2.25 CE hour. Please refer to the CE Credit Information page for detailed information.
In this module, you will discover ways to support expectant, placing, and birth parents before, during, and after delivery, as well as what processes they may be completing with an adoption agency or attorney.
This course offers 1.25 CE hour. Please refer to the CE Credit Information page for detailed information.
This course shows how hospitals can provide consistent, neutral, compassionate care to patients considering or pursuing adoption, by moving that care from person-dependent practice to hardwired infrastructure. It covers the four components of adoption-sensitive care — logistics, inpatient care, education, and policy — with interviews from the bedside, social work, risk management, and administration, and closes with a four-step framework to take back to your facility.
This course offers 1 CE hour. Please refer to the CE Credit Information page for detailed information.
This course aims to deepen the understanding of adolescent development and equip professionals with effective strategies for counseling adolescents facing unplanned or unintended pregnancies. Participants will explore key developmental aspects and learn how to provide supportive, informed guidance tailored to the unique challenges adolescents encounter during this critical time.
This course offers 1 CE hour. Please refer to the CE Credit Information page for detailed information.
equips trainees to understand how to utilize this training for others within their hospital-based workplace in an in-person setting
equips trainees to understand how to utilize this training for others within their hospital-based workplace in a virtual setting
Learn more about the free online training options available to hospital-based staff.
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