Participants of this half-day Distance Learning Training session will gain an understanding of normal sexual development in children and adolescents. The workshop will provide a review of how child abuse and neglect can disrupt healthy sexual development and will address the medical aspects and identification of sexually transmitted diseases. This course will also facilitate an understanding of how to work most effectively with the medical and mental health professionals regarding a child or adolescent’s sexual development.

Foster parents, kinship care providers, adoptive parents, and interested child welfare professionals.

Care givers will be given preference over child welfare professionals when registering.

• Learn the dynamics of adolescent sexuality and teen pregnancy
• Learn facts and issues related to birth control, sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS, and multiple sexual partners
• Learn strategies to support and help youth cope with issues and problems related to sexual development and sexuality
• Learn how to conduct age and developmentally appropriate discussions and sex education with children and adolescents
• Learn the ways that a sexually abused child or youth might affect foster family members and can appropriately intervene in instances of sexual exploration and exploitation between the sexually abused child or youth and other children and youth