Education Center for Adoptive Parents Online

在过去的30年里，收养经历了巨大的变化，主要是由于当代收养关系的复杂性，越来越多地涉及国际，多民族，多种族和寄养安置。青春期的青少年经历的行为问题和心理失调的比例一直很高。这些收养青年问题的发生率不成比例地高于非收养青年。专家认为，养育能力是扭转这一趋势的主要中介因素，但许多养父母缺乏能力和信心，他们有能力有效地养育。迫切需要提供可获得的、基于研究的培训，以提高养父母的能力，并确保被收养儿童长期健康地适应环境。最近颁布的《跨国收养海牙公约》确认了这一需要，迫使条约签署国要求对未来的养父母进行培训。许多国家现在要求海牙标准适用于所有收养案件。拟议项目“收养父母在线教育中心”的中心目标是解决这些缺陷，提高收养父母的能力，最终促进收养儿童的长期健康调整。为此，我们将开发并正式评估一个互动的在线媒体为基础的程序，以满足养父母的需求。材料将以一个强有力的概念框架为基础，并将针对已知的因素，以缓冲风险因素对收养儿童的调整的影响。ECAPO将包含一套独特的技能建设教学组件，通过创新的网络交付平台（IRISedOnline）交付，使收养服务提供商能够将ECAPO纳入现有网站，以增加和改善对收养家庭的服务。在第一阶段，开发了第一个程序模块，并对可行性进行了满意的评估。第二阶段的工作重点是制定和评估完整的计划。完成后，ECAPO将分为6个基本单元和2个额外的信息单元，涉及专门主题，并将按照2002年海牙公约的要求提供10多个小时的养父母培训。该计划涵盖了专家认为对收养家庭特别突出的主题内容：（1）理解收养（依恋，身份，种族，文化等问题）; (2)家庭内部关于收养问题的沟通（在第一阶段制定和评估）;（3）与大家庭、外部世界和学校就收养相关问题进行沟通;（4）促进被收养儿童在家庭环境中的适应能力;（5）补救性养育和抵消收养环境中的风险;（6）在抚养跨种族和/或跨文化收养的儿童方面的文化能力。新增的两个单元将包括：（a）寄养、收养父母;（B）关于混合家庭、兄弟姐妹、特殊需要、亲属收养的收养父母信息。六项任务将指导第二阶段计划的制定：（1）召集开发团队起草内容大纲，并将内容与教学交付相结合，（2）进行关键线人访谈，并促进焦点小组，（3）制作第二阶段计划资产，（4）设计和开发交付网站的增强功能，（5）将计划上传到网站并进行可用性测试，和（6）通过对330名参与者进行一项大型随机对照试验，比较干预组和对照组的结果，招募参与者并评估项目疗效。 公共卫生相关性：被收养的青少年中行为问题和心理适应不良的持续和不成比例的比率构成了一个重大的公共卫生问题。专家表示，解决这一问题的最佳方法是为养父母提供有效处理复杂的收养相关问题所需的教育和培训。该项目将创建并进行一项在线培训资源的随机对照试验，该资源可访问，经验合理，并为养父母提供所需的知识和技能，以调解风险对其收养子女发展的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Education Center for Adoptive Parents Online (ECAPO) Adoption has undergone dramatic change in the past 30 years, due largely to the complexity of contemporary adoptive relationships, which increasingly involve international, multi-ethnic, multi-racial, and foster care placements. Adoptive youth experience consistently high rates of behavior problems and psychological maladjustments. These adoptive youth issues occur at a disproportionately higher rate than among non-adoptive youth. Experts see parenting competence as the primary mediating factor in reversing this trend, yet many adoptive parents lack competence and confidence in their ability to parent effectively. There is a compelling need for accessible, research-based training that enhances adoptive parents' competence and ensures the long-term healthy adjustment of adopted children. Affirming this need, the recently enacted Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption compels treaty signatories to require training for prospective adoptive parents. Many states now require Hague standards to be applied to all adoption cases. The central aim of the proposed project, The Education Center for Adoptive Parents Online (ECAPO), is to address these deficiencies and enhance the competence of adoptive parents, ultimately advancing the long- term healthy adjustment of adopted children. To that end, we will develop and formally evaluate an interactive online media-based program to meet the needs of adoptive parents. Materials will be grounded in a strong conceptual framework and will target factors known to buffer the effect of risk factors on adopted children's adjustment. ECAPO will contain a unique set of skill-building instructional components delivered via an innovative web delivery platform (IRISedOnline) that will enable adoption service providers to incorporate ECAPO into existing websites to augment and improve services for adoptive families. In Phase I, the first program module was developed and satisfactorily evaluated for feasibility. Phase II efforts will focus on developing and evaluating the complete program. When completed, ECAPO will be organized into 6 basic modules and 2 additional informational modules addressing specialized topics, and will provide over 10 hours of adoptive parent training as required by the Hague Convention of 2002. The program covers content that topics experts have identified as particularly salient to adoptive families: (1) Understanding adoption (issues of attachment, identity, race, culture, etc.); (2) Communication within the family about adoption-related issues (developed and evaluated in Phase I); (3) Communication with extended family, the outside world, and school about adoption-related issues; (4) Promoting adopted children's resilience in the family context; (5) Remedial parenting and counteracting risk in the adoptive context; and (6) Cultural competence in raising the transracially and/or transculturally adopted child. The two additional modules will cover (a) foster care adoptive parenting, and (b) information on adoptive parenting for blended families, siblings, special needs, kinship adoption. Six tasks will guide the development of the Phase II program: (1) convene a development team to draft a content outline and align content with instructional delivery, (2) conduct key informant interviews and facilitate focus groups, (3) produce Phase II program assets, (4) design and develop enhancements to the delivery web site, (5) upload the program to the website and conduct usability testing, and (6) enroll participants and evaluate program efficacy by conducting a large randomized controlled trial with 330 participants comparing outcomes from the intervention group to those of a control group. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The consistent and disproportionate rate of behavior problems and psychological maladjustment among adopted youth poses a significant public health concern. Experts say this concern can best be addressed by providing adoptive parents with the education and training they need to effectively deal with complex adoption-related issues. This project will create and conduct a randomized controlled trial of an online training resource that is accessible, empirically sound, and provides adoptive parents with needed knowledge and skills to mediate the effect of risk on their adopted children's development.