After watching the Parents Forever introductory webinar, contact our team of Extension educators for access to the on-demand, online training program.
Teach Parents Forever in your community
Over the last 30+ years, Parents Forever has helped thousands of families experiencing divorce, separation, or a change in custody improve their self-care, parent-child relationships, and co-parenting relationships.
This training is for current and new facilitators
If you taught Parents Forever before 2014, you need this training to access our updated curriculum. The training ensures:
- Facilitators are up-to-date on the Parents Forever curriculum and related resources.
- Parents receive consistent, high-quality education at all Parents Forever programs.
- Extension complies with Minnesota's mandatory curriculum topics for parent education.
How to access Parents Forever training materials
Email our team
Frequently asked questions
If you have a unique situation, or a question that you don't see answered on this page, contact [email protected].
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Only authorized providers can purchase access to the revised curriculum.
Once you have completed the facilitator training and submitted the signed agreement, you can buy the updated version. This purchase is a one-time cost. It also gives you access to additional resources, technical support, and future versions of the curriculum.
This training reviews everything that you need to know before teaching a Parents Forever course, including:
- What the research says about families in transition, and which theories we used to shape the Parents Forever curriculum.
- The overall organization and teaching philosophy surrounding the Parents Forever curriculum.
- How to start a program and be successful in the future.
- The resources and support available after you complete the training.
- Next steps for partnering with us to offer Parents Forever in your community.
Anyone who teaches Parents Forever needs to complete the online training.
After completing the training, you will receive a certificate of completion, gain access to the Parents Forever curriculum, and become an “authorized provider” of Parents Forever. This means you will have permission and support to teach the program in person to your community.
It is in your best interest to work closely with your local court. Staying connected to your local court will encourage referrals to your program and ensure that your program is deemed acceptable for meeting the court order.
The Parents Forever program has already been approved by the Minnesota Supreme Court. When the curriculum is used as intended, it meets requirements for:
Mandatory curriculum topics for parent education.
Length (eight hours of education).
This means you do not need to contact the Supreme Court in Minnesota.
For classes outside of Minnesota, you will need to explore any requirements for your state. We can work with you to submit Parents Forever to your supreme court as needed.
Yes, if you are teaching in Minnesota. In Minnesota, programs are required to meet the Mandatory curriculum topics for parent education.
The full 8-hour version of the curriculum is written to cover all of the minimum standards. It also covers other information that participants, facilitators, and researchers have shown is key to a course like this.
If you are teaching outside Minnesota, you will probably be using the shorter, adapted version of the curriculum. We currently have adapted 4-hour courses for North Dakota and Indiana.
Check with your state's Supreme Court regarding required topics for your state.
Minnesota has some of the most stringent standards in terms of topics to be taught, which are known as the minimum standards. Because Parents Forever has been tailored to meet these high standards, it often meets the parent education requirements of other states. Parents Forever is currently being taught in several states besides Minnesota, including North Dakota and Indiana.
To ensure that Parents Forever meets your state’s requirements, check with your state’s Supreme Court. If they are not familiar with Parents Forever, share the Mandatory curriculum topics for parent education that are covered in our 8-hour program.
All parents who attend a Parents Forever™ class need to receive the Parents Forever Parent Handbook. The cost for this booklet should be part of the registration fee and not an added expense to participants.
Participants in the online course receive a digital copy of the handbook.
All Parents Forever™ resources, including the Parents Forever Parent Handbook, are copyrighted by the Regents of the University of Minnesota. The parent handbook is intended as long-term resource for parents. We hope that they use it and refer to again and again over the upcoming years of the family transition process. Photocopies are often not:
Consistent quality.
Something most people hang onto for long periods of time.
For these reasons, we do not allow anyone to photocopy the parent handbook. You must buy the handbook for each participant. Quantity discounts are available for those organizations that are able to buy in bulk.
The fee for parents will depend on your own situation and costs that you incur in the delivery of the program.
- In-person Parents Forever programs in Minnesota vary from $25 to $105, with the average fee being $60.
- Our Parents Forever Online Course for Parents is being offered for $89.
- Minnesota statute requires all mandated parent education courses to offer scholarships or sliding fee scales. Fees (including parent handbook fees) must be waived when participants have in forma pauperis (IFP).