Parents Forever facilitators

The Parents Forever curriculum is web-based. Purchasing the curriculum gives you access to the Parents Forever facilitator website. This website is the “one-stop shop” and contains all of the resources you need to teach the program. This includes the following resources.

• Parents Forever Facilitator Guide

• Parents Forever Presentation (full and abridged versions)

• Links to preview and buy the Parents Forever Parent Handbook

• Links to download all six Parents Forever videos, including the Four parenting styles video

• Link to download the Ages and Stages game

• Print-friendly versions of all participant handouts

• Covers to create your own facilitator and presentation binders

The Parents Forever: Education for Families in Transition curriculum provides everything you need to facilitate a Parents Forever course. Use this curriculum to help parents and caregivers of children:

• Describe the family transition journey and how each family member will be affected.

• Recognize the role of self-care, parent-child relationships, and coparenting in child well-being.

• Identify internal and external resources. Also plan how to leverage these resources to promote resilience for all involved.

The second Parents Forever session is about self-care. It uses the analogy of a plane trip throughout the curriculum. Parents learn that “you need to put on your own oxygen mask first before helping your children or others put on theirs’.”

After participating in this session, parents will be able to:

• Describe thoughts and feelings associated with the family transition process.

• Examine the links between self-care and life skills needed during and after the family transition.

• Analyze how personal needs and wants affect goals and create an action plan to improve self-care for the future.

The third Parents Forever session is about parent-child relationships. It helps parents realize that they and their children need each other. They can both help each other through the family transition journey.

After participating in this session, parents will be able to:

• Recognize how stages of child development influence children’s journey through the family transition.

• Identify characteristics of parent-child relationships that improve child wellbeing.

• Apply knowledge and identify skills that will lead to improved parent-child relationships.

The fourth Parents Forever session reaffirms that children’s parents are “parents forever,” even if they are not living in the same household.

After participating in this session, parents will:

• Reflect on the nature of their co-parenting relationships.

• Apply the communication and conflict management skills needed to have an effective co-parenting relationship.

• Recognize that a parenting plan is an effective tool to help prepare for positive co-parenting.

The fifth, and last, Parents Forever session helps parents understand that the family transition will take time. They will eventually reach a satisfactory “destination.” After participating in this session, parents will be able to describe how everything works together to improve family well-being.

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).