Homestudy Education

Michigan’s licensing rules require training in the following areas: separation, attachment and bonding, child development, including safe sleep practices for children, behavioral, developmental, and emotional needs of adoptive children, the impact of adoption on the family, post adoption service availability, trauma, SOGIE, and human trafficking. When you get started on your home study your caseworker will provide you with a detailed list of training requirements to complete. If you are looking for training requirements to get started on before you begin your home study, you can check out any of these:

NTDC – National Training and Development Curriculum

ntdctraining.org

Create an account to complete courses. Here are the steps to create an account:

Go to ntdctraining.org
Hover over Training for Families
Select Classroom-Based Training for Families
Click Access Course under Families who adopt via the intercountry or private domestic process
This will take you to the login page where they can create an account and complete the required courses

APM Required Courses

Stagewise Parenting

Stagewiseparenting.org

APM Required Courses

Conspicuous Families: Race, Culture, and Adoption

https://stagewiseparenting.org/course/conspicuous-families-race-culture-and-adoption/ (fee for course)

Tough Starts Matter Package – 4 courses

Brain Development Matters, Treatment Matters, Family Matters, Parenting Matters and Positive Adoption Language bonus https://stagewiseparenting.org/course/tough-starts-matter-package/ (fee for package)

Prenatal Substance Exposure

Research a variety of resources here: https://creatingafamily.org/adoption/resources/fetal-alcohol-syndrome/

https://creatingafamily.org/category/radio-show/ (look under the podcast tab and scroll to older podcasts)

Impact of Prenatal Exposure to Opioids and Opioid-Use Treatment Medications - Creating a Family

https://creatingafamily.org/adoption-category/adoption-radio-shows/impact-of-prenatal-exposure-to-opioids-and-opioid-use-treatment-medications/

https://www.creatingafamilyed.org/courses/impact-of-prenatal-exposure-to-opioids-and-opioid-use-treatment-medications

https://adoptioncouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Adoption-Advocate-No-184_4-17-2025.pdf

Books: (fee to purchase books)

The Connected Child by Karyn Purvis
The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption: Helping Your Child Grow Up Whole by Lori Holden
Raising Kids with Big Baffling Behaviors by Robyn Gobbel
No-Drama Discipline: The Whole-Brain Way to Calm the Chaos and Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind by