Parenting children who have experienced abuse and neglect looks very different than parenting neurotypical children.  What presents as behavior isn’t actually behavior at all, rather, it’s a child not knowing what to do with what they are feeling in their body. Our training classes help caregivers understand what trauma does to one’s body and how to best help children process what they are feeling.

Our classes are held on Saturday mornings from 9:30-11:30am throughout Colorado. The classes are always free for Colorado foster and kinship caregivers and, when in person, include free childcare, giving parents a time of respite and kids time to spend with other children who have experienced similar displacement issues.

Classes and groups are taught from a healing-centered, trauma-informed approach – helping parents learn new skills in order to meet children where they are and begin the healing process.

Training topics include: trauma, navigating the special education system, attachment, the Indian Child Welfare Act, unconscious bias, various therapy options, disorders, behaviors, LGBTQ support and expert panels. Our expert panels have included child welfare alumni panels, judicial panels, appellate courts panels and elected officials panels.

Fostering outside of Colorado and interested in our classes? We are thrilled to be seeing so many out of state foster parents in the classroom. Our expenses are stretched beyond our funding as our classroom continues to grow. Foster and kinship caregivers outside of Colorado pay $20 per training in the Learning Source. This helps us offset the additional cost of hosting larger groups. If your local county or agency is interested in partnering with us from out of state, we welcome their inquiry at [email protected].

Not a foster parent, but interested in our classes? Be the Source provides support services for foster and kinship families in Colorado. We charge a fee of $20 per class for non foster parents which supports our trauma-informed speakers and ongoing security/hosting of the Learning Source platform. If you are a case manager, teacher, social worker, CASA and/or adoptive parent(s), we welcome you in the classroom. You will receive two hours of continuing education units per class.