After you attend an orientation session, completing your NTDC training classes will be the next important step in your journey as a foster and/or adoptive parent. NTDC stands for National Training and Development Curriculum.

Your training classes will prepare you to make an informed decision about becoming a foster or adoptive family. Families who make informed decisions and grow in their new roles work best with agencies, birth families and others. This teamwork and partnership is what helps children and youth have stability and permanence within a family. You will be part of a team of many people working together on behalf of each child.

Benefits of NTDC

NTDC is a 18-hour, interactive group format led by a team of two facilitators. The team includes an experienced foster or adoptive parent and an experienced social worker employed in the foster care or adoption field.

You’ll learn firsthand the challenges and rewards of becoming a foster and/or adoptive parent, and your NTDC leaders will help you decide how your expectations and abilities match the realities of becoming a foster or adoptive family.

The benefits of NTDC:

  • Learning how to build positive relationships with birth parents and families
  • Understanding the commitment it takes to ensure the well-being of children placed in your care
  • Learning the importance of keeping close connections between children and their birth families
  • Understanding behavioral problems a child may experience
  • Understanding the foster care system
  • Thinking about the impact fostering and adoption may have on your own family

Mandatory Child Abuse Reporter Training

Foster parents are mandatory reporters of child abuse. As mandatory reporters, foster parents are required to take Mandatory Child Abuse Reporter Training. At least two hours of Mandatory Child Abuse Reporter Training must be taken before completing the licensing process and every three years thereafter.

The course can be taken by creating a workday account with this link.

If you have already created an account, use this link to login.