Drugs, Alcohol, Pregnancy & Children Who Are Vulnerable 

Monthly, February 2026 – November 2026

CWLA is pleased to partner with Dr. Ira J. Chasnoff, the Founder & President of NTI Upstream, to bring you the essential training series Drugs, Alcohol, Pregnancy & Children Who Are Vulnerable.

This monthly training series will be held from February to November. It will explore the biological and environmental factors for children and families that impact the ultimate development of children affected by prenatal substance exposure and will provide strategies for family- and school-based interventions that can promote long-term growth and development for this high-risk population of children. Each of the monthly training sessions is a stand-alone learning opportunity. Participants are welcome to register for one or multiple sessions.

Training Topics Include:
• The Neurobiology of Attachment in Pregnancies Affected by Substance Use
• Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD): Understanding the Diagnosis
• Marijuana, Mother, and Father: A Public Health Perspective
• Behavior Belongs in the Brain: Moving Away from Blame
• Sensory Processing: A Continuum of Challenges for Children with Prenatal Substance Exposure
• Risk is Not Destiny: Behavioral and Educational Interventions for Children and Teens Affected by Prenatal Substance Exposure
• How Adults Can Interact with Children to Promote Emotional and Behavioral Regulation
• Sensory Diets and DIY Sensory Rooms for Home
• Building Stronger Bonds: Enhancing Parent-Child Attunement
• Unseen Beginnings: Adoptive Parents’ Lived Experiences Raising a Child with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

Next Generation PRIDE Model of Practice Webinar

Wednesday, August 5, 2026
1:00 pm – 2:30 pm Eastern Time

CWLA is pleased to invite you to join us for a special information session highlighting the 2025 Next Generation PRIDE Model of Practice curriculum. This latest iteration focuses on preparing, developing, and supporting prospective resource parents in their role as team members in child protection and the trauma-informed care of children. This version now includes person-first language, strength-based words and expressions, and the lived experience perspective.

The Next Generation PRIDE Model of Practice curriculum has expanded and enhanced the prior materials with numerous updates and supplemental information, including new videos and additional content sections. It also features new topical areas, including: the impact adverse childhood experiences have on trust and attachment; how compassion fatigue affects household stability; and the importance of safeguarding children who use social media and technology. This webinar will also discuss how you can get access to the new materials, receive updated content training, and obtain an updated training certificate.

Working with Traumatized Children

Mondays, August 17, 24 & 31, 2026
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm Eastern Time

CWLA is pleased to present the three-part virtual training series that features our CWLA Press publication Working with Traumatized Children – A Handbook for Healing, Fourth Edition, newly released in 2026. As reflected by evolving research, this edition includes new information on trauma’s impact on the brain, essential practices for providers, an expanded chapter on trauma symptoms, and practical suggestions for creating safety. The training reflects these new additions and gives an overview of the first five chapters of Working with Traumatized Children.

Participants will gain a strengthened capacity to:

1. Define what trauma is and differentiate it from stress.
2. Name the three essential practices of providers necessary for healing trauma in children.
3. Give four examples of trauma symptoms in adults and children.
4. Describe two ways trauma can impact the brains of children.
5. Explain the importance of providing for safety in working with adults and children who have been traumatized.
6. Provide several examples of how systems can be traumatizing or retraumatizing to individuals.
7. Articulate how knowledge about the Vagus Nerve can be helpful in working with families and children who have been traumatized.
8. Express why self-reflective practices and supervision are important when working with adults and children who have been traumatized.

Building Blocks for Effective Co-Parenting
Free Members-Only Learning Session

Wednesday, August 19, 2026
1:00 pm – 2:30 pm

CWLA’s quarterly members-only learning sessions continue in August with Building Blocks for Effective Co-Parenting.

Families become separated for a variety of reasons. CWLA’s Building Blocks for Effective Co-Parenting training curriculum provides an opportunity to explore why some relationships end, understand how family separation can affect children’s identity and self-esteem, and learn strength-based, solution-focused strategies that create greater consistency and support for everyone involved.

Many of these core principles can be applied across all family structures, including birth, kinship, foster, and adoptive families. Join us to learn more about the fundamental concepts of Building Blocks for Effective Co-Parenting and their relevance to anyone responsible for supporting the healthy growth and development of children.

This free session is exclusively for CWLA members.

Using Organizational Assessment to Address Secondary Trauma in Child Welfare Settings

Friday, September 11, 2026
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm Eastern Time

Trauma exposure experienced by child welfare staff has been closely linked to engagement with clients, risk and safety-related decision-making, and staff turnover. Child welfare agencies often identify secondary trauma (ST) as an occupational hazard for staff but struggle with how to intervene. This free webinar will review how the Washington County (Maryland) Department of Social Services (WCDSS) used the Child Welfare Traumameter (CWT) organizational assessment process to identify and address secondary trauma experienced by its staff. Workshop participants will learn about the CWT process, the benefits of using organizational assessment to support trauma-informed practice, and approaches used by WCDSS to both identify and address secondary trauma. There will be time for participants to ask questions.

Presenters: Erika Tullberg, PhD, Assistant Research Professor at NYU Langone Health; Amanda Bishop Burdick, LCSW-C, Assistant Director, Adult, Child & Family Services Division at Washington County Department of Social Services

Supervising for Excellence and Success

Hybrid Training
Virtual: Monday, September 14, 2026
In Person: Thursday & Friday, September 17 & 18, 2026 in Camp Hill, PA

CWLA is pleased to host a hybrid version of the training course Supervising for Excellence and Success, which focuses on the essential practice elements and functions that are foundational to successful supervision. The quality of supervision is recognized as a significant factor in an organization’s overall capacity and ability to provide services that achieve operational goals and desired outcomes for children, youth, and families. Quality supervision is also an important factor associated with a positive work environment, staff retention, and professional development.

Supervising for Excellence and Success focuses in-depth on the essential practice elements and functions of supervision – Leading, Planning, Organizing, Teaching, Supporting, and Evaluating – framed through discussion, self-reflection, and group exercises. Practice elements critical to supporting professional engagement, partnership, and team building in supervision are highlighted to align with research and best practices. The training course also touches on supporting theoretical concepts related to the supervisory role and related skills and competencies.

Training registrants will receive a copy of Supervising for Excellence & Success: Participant Resources, which supplements the training course. The publication will be distributed at the in-person training. Special thanks to VOCE for hosting the in person portion of this training at their facility in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.

The Complicated Case of Sibling Sexual Abuse

Tuesday, September 15, Thursday, September 17 & Tuesday, September 22, 2026
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm Eastern Time

Sibling sexual abuse and harmful sexual behavior is argued to be the most common form of intra-familial sexual abuse. These interactions within a family are complex and often involve multiple professional disciplines, from the initial assessment through treatment of the individuals involved and the family unit. Child welfare professionals can play an influential role in safety planning, successful case resolution, and facilitating discussions around well-being and family cooperation.

To assist practitioners in examining this subcategory of child sexual abuse, CWLA is offering this introductory training focused on early identification, interruption of harmful behavior, and identification of treatment needs. This training will include a real-life case example to illustrate the needed assessment competencies in this multi-faceted and complex work. We will explore the environments that support these interactions, a criterion for assessment as to what is abusive and what is developmentally understandable. We will use the PROFESOR model as part of the assessment to assist in decision-making. The training is designed to help practitioners critically assess these types of cases, develop rationale for their decisions, and to offer support for the whole family unit.

Using Engagement and Data to Provide Appropriate Care for Children and Youth with Emotional and Behavioral Health Challenges

Wednesdays, September 23, 30 & October 7, 2026
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm Eastern Time

Determining how to provide appropriate care to children who have intense behavioral and emotional needs can be complex and challenging. When behaviors are difficult to control or efforts to address these complex needs in home or community-based care are unsuccessful, the result is youth are admitted into congregate care. The goals of this training are to address the processes used to determine referrals for behavioral health care for children and youth by looking at the referral and decision-making processes, access processes, and briefly the infrastructure needed.

The training will also address the specific needs of youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and substance use disorders, access opportunities for youth who might otherwise have entered Juvenile Justice programs, keeping youth close to home by developing interventions based on data in their own communities, and expanding low cost options and strategies to focus on behavioral and emotional challenges while also taking into consideration the social determinants of health.