Domestic Training

Training Courses

 IFS Family Training: Domestic Adoption

Training and equipping your family is essential to a successful adoption.

The IFS Family Training program consists of a series of courses tailored to the adoptive family and common issues that adoptive families may experience.

Both husband and wife are required to take the courses, either together or independently. It does not work to have one parent prepared to adopt and the other parent ignorant.

These four courses are required of every family participating in the Domestic Cross Cultural program.

  • Conspicious Families
  • Finding the Missing Pieces
  • Let’s Talk Adoption
  • Lifebooks

Then choose 1 or more of these courses.

  • Creating an Adoption Profile
  • Journey of Attachment
  • Open Adoption 101
  • Tough Starts: Brain Matters

These courses can be found at www.AdoptionLearningPartners.org.  Payment is made directly to ALP. 

If you have any questions, do let us know.  We want your child’s adjustment (and yours) to be as smooth as possible so be sure to ask.  Every question is acceptable!

NOTE: If you have completed similar courses for your home study, an IFS representative will evaluate the completed course material to determine if substitutions will be allowed.

SIDS Awareness

Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Awareness

About 3,500 babies die suddenly and unexpectedly each year in the United States. These deaths are the result of unknown causes, Accidental Suffocation and Strangulation in Bed (ASSB), and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). SIDS is defined as an unidentified cause of death in a baby younger than one year, even after the performance of an autopsy, examination of the death scene, and review of the infant’s and family’s clinical histories. Most SIDS deaths occur when babies are between one and four months of age and the majority (90%) of SIDS deaths occur before six months. However, SIDS deaths can occur anytime during a baby’s first year. Approximately, 20 percent of SIDS-related deaths occur in childcare settings.

How can you make a safe sleep environment?
Always place baby on his or her back to sleep for all sleep times, including naps.

  • Have the baby share your room, not your bed. Your baby should not sleep in an adult bed, on a couch, or on a chair alone, with you, or with anyone else. Try room sharing – keeping baby’s sleep area in the same room next to where you sleep.
  • Use a firm sleep surface, such as a mattress in a safety-approved crib, covered by a fitted sheet
  • Keep soft objects, toys, pillows, crib bumpers, and loose bedding out of your baby’s sleep area
  • Dress your baby in no more than one layer of clothing more than an adult would wear to be comfortable, and leave the blanket out of the crib. A one-piece sleeper or wearable blanket can be used for sleep clothing. Keep the room at a temperature that is comfortable for an adult.

For more information please see

Safe Sleep

Restrictive Sleep

By Katherine A. Beckmann, Ph.D, M.P.H., Senior Policy Advisor for Early Childhood Health and Development, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary and Interdepartmental Liaison for Early Childhood

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Receive the eBook “A Stormy Night in Bucharest – Angela’s Story” when you sign up to connect with International Family Services and start to Explore Adoption.

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