Supplementary Training Reviews

I recently attended Sofie's training session "Beyond PRIDE". I found this so valuable and very educational. PRIDE training provides a lot of education on fostering and adoption, however I found this program much more relevant, and tailored to the type of adoption my husband and I were working towards. Sofie is a great facilitator and educator and the guest speakers were a great way for us to see how the lessons learned can, and will, need to be applied to our life once we adopt. Definitely a worthwhile day for anyone looking to adopt."

Bruce Page

I took the online PRIDE course and felt that I hadn't learned a lot about private domestic adoption. Taking this supplemental course, filled in the gaps that were missing. It was VERY worthwhile and relevant to our situation. We learned SO much and the time flew by. The guest speakers were well spoken and very interesting. They were very relevant because they explained what they went through (recently) and in Ontario, Canada. The instructor, Sofie, is positive, enthusiastic and genuine. She works in the field and also has first-hand experience that is so valuable. I really appreciated this course and would HIGHLY recommend it to anyone going through private adoption.

Erin McHardy

What an amazing training. We are looking to adopt internationally, and this session gave us such great insights about how to prepare, and things to think about. Sofie is an amazing trainer, and we learned so much in that one day. Things we had not even thought about, like how to incorporate positive adoption language in our lives, for the sake of our future child. Also, how to deal with extended family. We are definitely sending our family to Sofie's Family and Friends seminar. And, about open adoption, and how important this is for the child. The day was filled with such useful information about the adoptee (adopted at any age really), that we really did not know about before. How could that be, after all the research that we thought we had done? Thank you Sofie, for opening our eyes. Our future child thanks you!!

Mia Matagi

My wife and I have been planning to adopt through the Children's Aid Society, and we took this course as we wanted to learn more. We really were not expecting though, to learn as much as we did. About our losses, and, the specifics of what our child's adjustments will be, and how to deal with them. We really do feel more prepared now, in a way we never thought we would. Especially about how to navigate a relationship with the birth family. We really needed that advice, and Sofie delivered this with heartfelt personal examples. All the various speakers brought everything together so well — the adoptees, the birth mother, the adoptive parents... Wow. Thank you Sofie!

Steve Kanelas