Recognize the importance of everyday family interactions.

The curriculum deepens understanding of the need and benefits of supporting children’s ongoing connections to their parents, siblings, extended family members, and communities. Maintaining these bonds is vital for promoting a sense of identity, stability, and normalcy for children.

Small interactions that are often taken for granted can serve as building blocks for trust and emotional connection. From shared meals to bedtime routines, recognizing the significance of these interactions allows parents to create a nurturing environment. By weaving positive moments into daily life, foster, adoptive, and kinship caregivers contribute to a child’s sense of belonging and sense of security with their caregivers.

Explore how the curriculum meets this fundamental principle below

Featured Classroom-Based Themes

The Classroom-Based Training themes provide a framework to build a strong foundation for parenting children who have experienced trauma, separation, and loss.

Classroom-Based Training Theme

Maintaining Children’s Connections

Classroom content explores:

Visits with siblings
Tips for how to navigate and support visits with siblings
Communication with extended family members
Help navigate issues when promoting communication with extended family members
Community Connections
Provide opportunities to keep children connected to their communities (i.e. schools, church, friends, sporting teams)

Take a Closer Look

Classroom-Based Training Theme

Creating a Stable, Nurturing and Safe Home Environment

Classroom content explores:

Setting Limits
How to balance setting consistent and predictable limits with the unique needs of children who have experienced separations, loss, and trauma.
Issues when promoting communication
Help navigate issues when promoting communication with extended family members
Help children feel safe
Strategies to help children impacted by trauma and loss feel psychologically and physically safe in the home.

Take a Closer Look

Featured Right-Time Themes

Recognizing that adults learn best when the information is applicable to their own situation, the NTDC has created a component of the curriculum called Right-Time Training.

Right-Time Training Theme

Building Children’s Resilience

Right-Time materials explore:

Experiencing a stable and committed relationship
The importance of a child experiencing a stable and committed relationship with a supportive parent, or another caregiving adult.
Develop and enhance a child’s resilience
Strategies that can be incorporated into daily care to develop and enhance a child’s resilience.
Value relationship
The need to value relationship over compliance.

Take a Closer Look

Right-Time Training Theme

Preparing for and Managing Visitation

Right-Time materials explore:

Address concerns, questions and emotion
How to check in and address concerns, questions and emotions children may encounter before and after visits with their families.
The importance of visits
The importance of visits for children even if results in their behaviors becoming disruptive.
Validate the range of feelings
Strategies on how to help children name and validate the range of feelings they may experience before, during and after a visit.

Take a Closer Look

Let’s Talk!

Interested in Implementing NTDC?

Contact Sue Cohick [scohick@spaulding.org] to schedule an in-depth review of the curriculum.

Contact Sue Cohick

Words From Facilitators

I loved the material, especially the displays of understanding and the stories!

NTDC Facilitator

I appreciated the activities that tugged on my own emotions because it took a personal experience and related it to what kids in foster care experience but to a higher degree.

NTDC Facilitator

The “Real-Life” videos and examples are also excellent tools for empowering foster/adoptive parents.

NTDC Facilitator

Theme content incorporating many podcasts and real life videos will greatly enhance foster parent training.

NTDC Facilitator

Material is well organized, rich in content for families and easy to understand.

NTDC Facilitator

Love the trauma informed material that will help parents gain a better understanding of child’s behavior.

NTDC Facilitator

The building of themes really work well together. It flows very well in the format.

NTDC Facilitator

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This product was funded by the Children’s Bureau, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, under grant #90CO1134. The contents of this document are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Children’s Bureau.