Caring for Children and Young People with Trauma is an online training package that the Department for Child Protection (DCP) is making available to all South Australian carers. The training has been developed by the Centre for Excellence in Therapeutic Care (a division of the Australian Childhood Foundation) to help family-based carers understand trauma and increase their confidence in responding to the needs and behaviours of the children and young people in their care.

The Centre for Excellence in Therapeutic Care (CETC) is a division of the Australian Childhood Foundation, a known leader in the provision of therapeutic care for children and families recovering from abuse, neglect, and violence. We mobilise knowledge about “what works” in out-of-home care to better resource carers and organisations supporting children and young people living in all forms of care, including foster and kinship care, residential care, and secure care.

• Up to 7 hours of online learning content
• Self-paced learning: start, pause, skip back, and skip ahead at your own pace
• Learning materials using a combination of slides, videos, quizzes, and opportunities for reflection
• 24/7 online accessibility to fit your schedule
• Technical support available during office hours

The purpose of this training is to:

• enable foster and kinship carers to access quality, evidence-based learning programs that are consistent with training received by DCP
• build the capacity of carers to apply trauma-informed approaches to caring for children and young people
• enable interested carers to undertake this training as a foundation towards a Certificate IV in Child Youth and Family Intervention.

This training has been created specifically for family-based carers. There are two learning and development training packages tailored to foster carers and kinship carers.

Work is currently underway for the development of a third training package that additionally tailors to the needs of Aboriginal carers or carers of Aboriginal children.

At registration, you will be prompted to select tailored training based on your care type.

Work is currently underway for the development of an additional training package that tailors to the needs of Aboriginal carers and carers of Aboriginal children. 

Aboriginal carers may wish to undertake the current foster or kinship care training most relevant to their situation, or they may prefer to complete the Aboriginal carer training when it becomes available.

You have 8 weeks (about 2 months) to complete the online training program. 

If you require assistance or support, please contact support@childhood.org.au.

The online training program should take between 3.5 hours to 7 hours to complete, depending on your experience and prior learning. 

The core modules are designed to take between 45 and 90 minutes each, while the welcome and introductory content takes about 20 minutes.  

Caring for Children and Young People with Trauma has been adapted to suit the particular needs of kinship carers and foster carers by enhancing their skills to apply trauma-informed approaches to caring for children and young people. This training provides foundations of trauma responsive-care by incorporating an understanding of the nervous system and brain function, trauma and its impacts, and trauma-informed responses to the needs and behaviours of children and young people in care.

At the end of the course you will receive a personalised certificate of completion to download and print.

If you encounter any technical issues, email us at support@childhood.org.au. 

You can also call to speak with someone from support services or the Centre for Excellence in Therapeutic Care on 1300 381 581. 

No. This is a non-accredited course developed to increase knowledge and skills in trauma-informed care for those with children and young people in family-based care.

No. You will be required to complete some quizzes (called Knowledge Checks) that include multiple-choice questions. You will be able to attempt these quizzes as many times as you need, and you may go back and review the content at any time. It is important to remember these quizzes are not to test you, but to help you reinforce and reflect on the content you learnt in the module. 

Check your answers to see where you may need to review the course content and try again. You can review the course content and attempt the quiz as many times as you need. If you are certain your answer should be correct, please contact us at support@childhood.org.au.

We love feedback! Please email your feedback to support@childhood.org.au or call us on 1300 381 581. 

You can reach out to your support worker to unpack and reflect on the content raised in this course.  

You can email us on support@childhood.org.au or call us on 1300 381 581. 

You will also be invited to a live, online reflective session facilitated by one of our expert trainers when you complete the course.  

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If you need any assistance with this issue, please email us at support@childhood.org.au or call us on 1300 381 581.

The course may display slightly differently on different devices and different resolutions. Please let us know on what device and browser you experienced the problem at support@childhood.org.au, and try viewing the page in full-screen mode or on a different device as a temporary measure.

You can access your ePortfolio by clicking on the ePortfolio tab in the header bar, the ePortfolio button at the bottom of each course page, or from the “useful links” section of your course home.

Only you, and whoever you choose to show. They are designed to prompt your reflection and engagement in the learning content, and are a fantastic way to apply your learning to your own unique situation and needs.

It is important to note that this course deals with topics and themes such as child abuse, trauma, and violence, which may be distressing to some people. It is important that you are aware of your limits when confronting the course content and manage your participation accordingly.

You can reach out to your support worker to unpack and reflect on the content raised in this course.

You can also email us on support@childhood.org.au or call us on 1300 381 581.

You will also be invited to a live, online reflective session facilitated by one of our expert trainers once you; have completed the course.

This course is provided in English. However, due to the digital nature of the training, you can take your time studying the material and making use of tools such as Google Translate and dictionaries to assist you.

Foster and kinship care support agencies and the Department for Child Protection (DCP) Kinship Care Program work to support and inform carers. Approved carers will be affiliated with a support agency or the DCP Kinship Care Program.

Further resources and contact information can be found under Resources for carers: Trauma-informed and responsive care on the DCP website.

If this content has caused you concern and you need anonymous support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636.

In the first instance, it is recommended you contact your support worker through DCP or the agency that is supporting you and the child/ren in your care. This course provides generalised knowledge of applying a trauma-informed approach to all caring, but cannot cover every unique situation and experience. Matching trauma-informed responses to the specific needs of each child is the care journey that every carer works with their Care Team to develop and hone over time. Never give up!