The self-assessment is a critical part of the NTDC experience. The self-assessment is an online tool that parents complete twice: once before they start classroom-based training and again after they complete the classroom-based training.  The questions on the self-assessment correlate to the themes taught in the classroom and to the characteristics that have been found important for parents who foster or adopt.  The tool is designed to help parents who are thinking of fostering or adopting to discover more about their parenting style, including their own characteristics and abilities and how and where they could benefit from building their knowledge, attitude and skills related to parenting children who have experienced trauma, grief, and loss.

Immediately after completing the tool, parents receive feedback on areas of strength and areas where they may want to build upon. They will have the opportunity to select five topical areas that they would like to receive additional information. This information is emailed to the parents and contains strategies and information that can help to build their strengths. The tool is a great way to determine how one parent’s strengths and areas of growth compliment their parenting partner’s or support systems. Parents are encouraged to refer back to their self-assessment scores throughout the classroom-based training to further enhance their learning. The second self-assessment report compares their initial scores with the current scores, providing a quick glance of the parents’ progression so that they can better understand their growth over the course of the classroom-based training and areas that they might benefit from continued learning opportunities.

The self-assessment reports are only sent to the parent.  The facilitator receives an aggregate report that contains the scores for everybody in their cohort. The aggregate report is designed to help the facilitator tailor the classroom sessions and materials to meet the specific needs of the participants in that training cohort.