Still wondering what that means? Well for anyone who has or is currently going through the process to adopt a child or children from MCFD (another acronym: Ministry of Children and Family Development)is required to participate in the Adoption Education Program (AEP) generally before their SW (social worker) will even begin the homestudy.
Generally speaking the best way for MCFD to deliver the AEP is in a group workshop format. Different regions do their 6 - 7 sessions differently. Some regions host full day workshops every other weekend, while some offer shorter evening sessions during the week for 12 weeks. However these workshops are usually only held in major centres. For the Interior region that I cover, there are 3 sub-regions. Group AEPs are usually held for the Okanagan in Kelowna on a regular basis. Once or twice a year Kamloops hosts a group AEP.
So what about the Kootenays and those families who live in remote communities in my region? How do they meet the education requirement? I'm so glad you asked. Since 2000 (yes, way back then) MCFD developed a self-study guide for families that cannot attend a group AEP because of distance. It's called....Becoming An Adoptive Family in BC, and is broken down into different chapters on the various topics.
So way back in 2000 this curriculum was developed and placed into binders for that purpose. However since the turn of the century, there has been an updated curriculum developed for the group AEP that incorporates current research and uses up-to-date videos and other resources. As of yet, the Self-Study Guide has not been updated, although rumor has it that "people" are working on this.
Several years ago a SW in the Kootenay region contacted me about finding a way to connect their families who were isolated and only able to read through a very thick binder with only their SW to talk with. So I came up with the conference call concept. (I guess I could call it the CCC)
I designed a series of 4 conference calls that coincided with sections in the Self Study Guide binders. Families would be referred to me via their MCFD adoption worker, and I would contact them directly to set up the calls. I didn't want to just go over the materials they had already read, I wanted to add to their knowledge and give these families an opportunity to connect with others who were also going through the process.
Since it's inception I have wanted to include as many updated resources as possible. That involved doing lots of research for ways to deliver the resources. I started with mailing out dvds and audio cds, but this wasn't the most efficient or cost effective way and thanks to Canada Post, things would get lost or damaged.
They say necessity is the inpiration, so several summers ago I spent quite alot of time searching for free, on-line resources to share with our families. And surprisingly enough, I found some great on-line videos most of which are actually Canadian! My goal was to add to the existing curriculum as I don't have the power to change it, and to give families a variety of different ways of learning. (Not everyone loves reading through pages and pages of materials. Shocking I know!)
We have had such great feedback on this program from both SWs and PAP (prospective adoptive parents), that last year we began offering the AEP SSP to the North region. Our ASC (Adoption Support Coordinator) there is Sherrie Jones and she delivers it for her families. Again, we've had great feedback on that.
So what else can we do with our AEP SSP? Well, MCFD has now contracted AFABC (Adoptive Families Assoc. of BC) to deliver two of these SSPs province wide. That is so fabulous! Sometimes regions don't have enough of their families to make it worthwile, so now we can include them in with other regions.
Last night I hosted the first of these provincial AEP SSPs. It was so wonderful to connect families from both the East and West Kootenays, the Thompson Caribou, North Central and North West, as well as Vancouver Coastal. We had so many great discussions, and the participants commented that although they were quite hesitant when their adoption SWs wanted them to participate, they all enjoyed the call and appreciated the updated on-line videos and resources I provided. I love when that happens.
So if you know of anyone who lives in a remote community or who doesn't have access to the group AEP, let them know about this program. It's the next best thing to being there in person.
I want to help!
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