ASCC stands for Adoption-Sensitive Clinical Care.
The ASCC project offers a curriculum designed to increase hospital-based staff knowledge and confidence in sharing adoption as an option and providing adoption-sensitive care when working with expectant parents facing an unplanned pregnancy.
ASCC is a partnership between the National Council For Adoption, Spaulding for Children, the Adoption and Foster Care Clinic, and the University of Washington and funded by a grant from the Children’s Bureau.
The ASCC core curriculum and supplemental modules will be publicly available at no charge for anyone interested in learning more about adoption in the healthcare setting. However, the trainings are geared specifically toward hospital-based staff.
Yes, participants can choose to receive CMEs or Social Work CEs for course completion.
No, the CEs/CMEs provided for the ASCC core curriculum and supplemental modules are provided FREE of cost for the duration of the project period!
The ASCC training will be offered asynchronously through an online Learning Management System. In addition, there will be virtual Train-the-Trainer sessions offered to equip local trainers with the knowledge and skills to deliver the training to hospital-based staff both in person and virtually, live and self-paced. More information is available on both of those options on the Online Training page and the Train-the-Trainer page.
Research conducted by the National Council For Adoption shows that birth parent satisfaction with the decision to place for adoption has increased over time, while at the same time stigma associated with birth parents and adoption has also increased.
Additionally, while 18% of birth mothers and 15% of birth fathers reported receiving support from healthcare workers regarding their adoption decisions, more than 30% of birth parents surveyed reported healthcare workers as a source of stigma about adoption.
Hospital-based staff are in a unique position to provide crucial levels of support to expectant parents facing unintended pregnancies. For those parents that decide to place for adoption, the research shows that non-coerced decision-making and receipt of accurate information were two significant predictors of birth parent adoption satisfaction levels. When hospital-based staff are informed about the basics of adoption and how to present adoption as an option in a non-judgmental, non-directive manner, they are better able to serve their patients facing unplanned pregnancies.
Yes, participants can choose to receive CMEs or Social Work CEs for course completion.
The curriculum provided by the ASCC project is called Understanding Infant Adoption (UIA 7). The Understanding Infant Adoption curriculum has been in use for many years and has been recently reviewed and revised through a 2024-2026 cooperative agreement with the federal Children’s Bureau. The UIA 7 curriculum consists of six core modules and 14 supplemental (optional) modules. The six core modules will cover the basics of private domestic infant adoption, reflection on personal attitudes and experiences related to adoption, how to talk about and present adoption as an option, influences on expectant parent decision-making, adoption-friendly hospital policy, laws governing adoption, and more.
For more information on the six core modules and the additional supplemental modules, visit our Curriculum Overview page.
Selection criteria/qualifications include at least 5 years’ experience with infant adoption, knowledge of adult learning techniques, and 2+ years’ experience training others.
ASCC training can be accessed for free through our Training Portal here. Create an account to log in and get started.
Interested individuals who feel they may be qualified to be a UIA 7 trainer can register for a Train-the-Trainer session here. The project team will review submitted resumes and will confirm with those who have been selected as trainers and have met the minimum requirements to attend the train-the-trainer sessions.
The ASCC project team will perform two different TTT processes: one for experienced UIA trainers who know and have trained the UIA curriculum, and another for trainers who are new to the UIA curriculum.
The ASCC project team is available to answer questions and provide technical assistance. If you have questions that are not answered on this website or if you need assistance with the training system, content, or delivery, please use our Ask an Expert form to get in touch with a member of the project team.
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