Equipped to Love Resources
Equipped to Love is a resource designed to help family and friends support adoptive and foster families in their church. Because God’s people have stepped out in obedience we have many children in our churches who come in through foster care and adoption. Often, children who have experienced neglect, abuse, and trauma have challenges and differences that can cause them to not fit well in many of our traditional church programs and settings. The Equipped to Love training curriculum is designed to help individuals learn how to understand the needs of these families and provide them with practical support.
This 6-Module training may be divided into (6) 1-hour sessions for a weekly group meeting, or utilized all together for a weekend conference. Each Module includes at least one video, along with a downloadable Facilitator’s Guide and Participant Handout.
Module 1: How to Support and Encourage Adoptive & Foster Families
This video gives a quick overview of some of the primary “do’s and don’ts” of interacting with children who have been adopted or who are in foster care.
DOWNLOAD MODULE 1 PDF
Module 2: How to Interact with Children who have been Adopted & Children Who Are in Care
This video gives a quick overview of some of the primary “do’s and don’ts” of interacting with children who have been adopted or who are in foster care.
DOWNLOAD MODULE 2 PDF
Module 3: Why These Children Act Differently: Understanding Attachment and Why These Children Act Differently: Delays and Differences
This video sheds light on how attachment (trust) is formed and why it requires extra work on the part of foster and adoptive parents. It explains the importance of working with these families as they seek to earn their children’s trust.
This video explains the reasons children in foster care or who have been adopted often experience developmental delays. It also expounds upon many of the differences to which children must adjust – differences related to attachment, grief, environment, and social norms, to name a few.
DOWNLOAD MODULE 3 PDF
Module 4: How to Manage Difficult Behaviors
This video covers ways to respond to children with grace when there is a need for disciplinary instruction, as well as ways to be preventive in your interactions with children, minimizing the likelihood and frequency of negative behavior.
DOWNLOAD MODULE 4 PDF
Module 5: Why There is a Need for Overall Sensitivity: Sensitivity to the Emotional Needs of Adoptive & Foster Families
This video details some specific areas in which sensitivity toward adoptive and foster parents may be needed.
DOWNLOAD MODULE 5 PDF
Module 6: How to Show Sensitivity toward Adoptive & Foster Families: Language Sensitivity
This video outlines “what to say” and “what not to say” to or about birth parents, foster parents, and adoptive parents. It explains why certain questions or phrases are inappropriate and provides the viewer with alternative, appropriate wording.