This 2 hour course examines openness in adoption.    The course considers openness from the viewpoints of adoptive parents, birth parents, adoption professionals, and adult adoptees.  It addresses both theoretical and practical aspects of openness in adoption.  Participants explore what open adoption might look like before and after the adoption, the individual nature of openness, benefits, challenges, and more.

This 2 hour course is for both pre- and post-adoptive parents.  Presenters go beyond discussing various types of special needs and delve into how how caring for a child with special needs impacts different aspects of the whole family.  Different types of resources are examined and participants will begin to discern which resources might be best for their family.  Most importantly, the course walks parents through building their own individualized parenting plan with local and national resources.

The topic of talking to children about adoption is one of the most requested by adoptive parents!  This 1 and 1/2 hour course guides parents through a process of "following the questions".  Delve in to the idea of message sending about adoption from a broad societal lens, consider it then in terms of your own unique family, and then get down to the "nitty gritty" specifics of talking to your child about adoption.

This 1/2 hour course is an introduction to adoption and is geared to those considering or just beginning the adoption process.  Compare and contrast the different types of adoption and consider your own motivations to adopt as a part of deciding what type of adoption is best for your family.

Explore the concepts of race and culture and it relates to adoption and foster care. This one hour course, included in the Because They Waited education system, discusses topics such as addressing racism, looking at culture in terms of larger culture and sub-cultures, talking with your child about race and culture, white privilege and more.

Heart of the Matter also offers other coursework pertaining to general parenting, international adoptions and adoptions through foster care.