Creating a Family offers evidence-based, trauma-informed workshops and training for foster, adoptive, and kinship parents and professionals to understand and learn strategies to support children exposed prenatally to alcohol and drugs.

Based on extensive research, the US government estimates that 10-11% of all children born in the US have been impacted by prenatal alcohol or drug exposure¹. The rate of prenatal exposure for kids connected to the child welfare system is significantly higher². Their challenging symptomatic behaviors create tremendous stress on parents and caregivers, resulting in these kids experiencing a significantly higher rate of placement disruptions³.

Workshop for Parents

This evidence-based, trauma-informed workshop, presented in three sessions, helps parents recognize the signs and symptoms of prenatal substance exposure and train them on techniques that work best with these kids. 

The workshop is presented in three sessions. Participants will need to be able to attend Session 1 and Session 2 and then you will select your Session 3 from one of the age-specific options.

• Connect with other parents through facilitated discussion.
• Learn supportive strategies.
• Each session is 90 minutes and presented on Zoom.
• Participants receive access to a resource library and a certificate of completion (4.5 CE hours for all 3 sessions)
  • Participants have the option to attend all three age-specific sessions. (7.5 CE hours for 5 sessions)

Learning Objectives:

• Apply knowledge of symptoms and strategies to address issues in children of various age levels.
• Learn to recognize the primary symptoms and secondary impacts of prenatal substance exposure.
• Understand and learn the process and available resources for diagnosis.
• Understand the five keys to support family success.
• Learn a 3-step approach with strategies to support your child.

Creating a Family worked with a professor at NC State University to run two randomized control trials to assess the effectiveness of a training program aimed at increasing knowledge of prenatal substance exposure and increased self efficacy among foster, adoptive, and kinship parents raising children who have been prenatally exposed to alcohol and/or drugs. The online training was found to be effective at improving parent confidence and efficacy related to the caregivers ability to effectively care for a child with prenatal exposure.

Find Upcoming Workshops

We offer workshops throughout the year. Each workshop is presented over five sessions (2 1/2 weeks). Parents can attend individually or with a partner.

Train Parents Working With Your Agency

Are you an agency that would like a group of your parents to be trained? Creating a Family can schedule a workshop for your families, or we offer a Train the Trainer program that allows trained staff to present the workshop for your agency. For more information, see below.

Prenatal Substance Exposure Training for Child Welfare Staff

This facilitated training is designed for child welfare staff. The training discusses the warning signs and symptoms, the long-term impacts, and what to know about seeking a diagnosis for prenatal substance exposure. It delivers strategies for supporting kids and families and provides access to a resource library for child welfare staff.

This training is presented in two sessions, two hours each session, and participants will need to attend all sessions. Participants will engage in case scenarios and have access to a digital resource library full of downloadable tipsheets (also available in Spanish) to support the families they serve.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the prevalence of prenatal substance exposure, including among those in the child welfare system. 
• Recognize the impacts of prenatal substance exposure on placement stability.
• Identify primary, secondary, and tertiary symptoms of prenatal substance exposure in children of various ages.
• Understand the process, resources, and advantages of seeking a diagnosis.
• Know how to implement a 3-step approach to help families address challenging behaviors connected to prenatal substance exposure exhibited by children in their caseload. 
• Locate resources for supporting prenatally exposed children and their families. 
• Identify strategies to support common symptoms in children from infancy to young adulthood.
• Identify steps and resources for supporting families in transitioning a prenatally exposed teen into adulthood.
• Develop a plan to prevent placement disruption of prenatally exposed children.

In 2024, Creating a Family worked with the UNC School of Social Work to assess the effectiveness of this training designed to increase child welfare professionals’ knowledge and confidence in supporting children and resource families affected by prenatal substance exposure. The evaluation showed that this training provides substantial knowledge gain for participants and you can read the evaluation report in detail.

Train Agency Staff

Are you an agency that would like Creating a Family to train the staff in your agency? For more information, see below.

For an Agency

Are you an agency that would like a group of your parents to be trained? Would you like to train your staff to understand better how to support children with prenatal substance exposure? We offer several options to meet your training needs.

1. Prenatal Substance Exposure Workshop for Foster, Adoptive & Kinship Parents
2. Prenatal Substance Exposure Training for Child Welfare Staff
3. Train the Trainer Program for Staff to deliver the Prenatal Substance Exposure Workshop for Parents
   • The train the trainer program will train your staff on best practices for presenting this workshop. Qualified trainers will learn the current research on prenatal exposure to alcohol and drugs and how this workshop is designed to be presented.

¹https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/129859/cdc_129859_DS1.pdf
²US DHHS, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
³Joseph et al., 2022; Petrenko et al., 2016