The Adoption Competency Curriculum (ACC) was developed by the National Child Welfare Resource Center for Adoption.  The ACCupdates the popular Special Needs Adoption Curriculum developed in 1990.  It includes the latest research on adoption practice.  It is designed to be a comprehensive curriculum that speaks to all the issues in the adoption of children/youth from the child welfare system.  It is appropriate for training practitioners new to adoption as well as those who have experience in this area.  It acknowledges that most adoption practitioners have had years of child welfare experience in protective services or foster care prior to transitioning to adoption.  Thus, they come to adoption practice well versed in the strengths and challenges of children who experience the child welfare system.

The ACC is based on the belief that children/youth in the child welfare system whose parental rights have been terminated are entitled to a permanent family.  For the majority of these children/youth, that permanent family is created through legal adoption.  Given their past experiences of abuse and/or neglect and being a child/youth in the child welfare system, these children/youth have developed systems of coping that might be similar to other children/youth. Many need additional understanding and support to successfully adapt to being a child/youth in a family.  This Curriculum focuses on some of the common issues and challenges that occur when the child/youth is transitioned from foster care to adoption.  It emphasizes the roles of the adults—child welfare practitioners, foster parents, relatives, adoptive parents—in accepting the child/youth unconditionally, understanding the impact of the child welfare system on the child/youth, and supporting his/her transition to adoption.