Intercountry Courses

Preparation Courses at the pre adoption time

IAC runs three different courses for prospective adopters.

• Three day Intercountry Adoption Preparation Course. This course is designed for first time prospective adopters and offers the chance to explore in depth the rewards and challenges involved in parenting a child from overseas.
• Two day Intercountry Adoption Preparation Course for Kinship carers. This course is designed for prospective adopters intending to adopt a related child from overseas.
• One day Adopting Again Course. This one day course is designed for experienced adoptive parents seeking to adopt for a second or subsequent time.

If you are being assessed by IAC your assessment administrator will refer you for the courses detailed above, at which point you will be sent details of the next available course.

If you are resident in a Local Authority or Regional Adoption Agency that subscribes to IAC, but which undertakes the home study assessment themselves, a social worker from your LA/RAA will usually refer you for the preparation course, at which point you will be contacted with details of the next available course.

Additional Preparation Modules

• Parenting a child across racial and ethnic boundaries. This half day course is for prospective adoptive parents seeking to adopt a child who is racially or ethnically different from themselves. You would be required to attend this in addition to the preparation course if you were planning to adopt transracially.
• Adopting siblings. A half day course for prospective adopters wishing to adopt siblings. You would be required to attend this in addition to the preparation course if you were planning to adopt a sibling group.

“I found it comprehensive and helpful from day one”

“A very valuable experience that can’t be replaced by reading a book”

Workshops following approval

Once you and your child have returned to the UK IAC runs occasional Adoption Support Workshops on such topics as Exploring Adoption with Children, Life Story Work, Building Attachment through Play, Adoption and Schools and Adoption and the Teenage years amongst others.

"It was helpful, providing steps for us to implement at each stage of our children’s development, and what are children may be experiencing at each stage.”

“The group discussions were helpful and hearing other people’s experiences.”