Trauma-Informed Foster Care: Understanding the Child Behind the Behaviour

Trauma-Informed Foster Care: Understanding the Child Behind the Behaviour

Course Description

Children who enter foster care often carry the lasting effects of abuse, neglect, loss and trauma. While these experiences can present as challenging behaviour, the behaviour itself is often a child's way of communicating unmet needs rather than deliberate defiance.

This comprehensive trauma-informed course has been designed to help foster carers understand the experiences that shape children's behaviour and provide practical, therapeutic strategies that promote healing, trust and emotional safety. Throughout the course, learners will explore how trauma affects the developing brain, the importance of attachment, why behaviour is communication, and how everyday relationships can help children recover from adversity. The course also examines therapeutic approaches such as PACE, co-regulation, emotional validation, resilience building, and the importance of supporting a child's identity and sense of belonging. Finally, it recognises the emotional demands placed upon foster carers and provides guidance on maintaining wellbeing, preventing burnout and accessing support when needed.

Using realistic case studies, reflective activities and practical examples, this course equips foster carers with the confidence to respond calmly, compassionately and consistently to children who have experienced trauma. Rather than focusing solely on managing behaviour, learners will develop a deeper understanding of the child behind the behaviour and how therapeutic relationships can transform lives.

Suitable for
Foster carers
Prospective foster carers
Kinship carers
Special Guardians
Residential childcare workers
Supported accommodation staff
Family support workers
Social work professionals
Teachers and education staff working with children in care
Anyone supporting children affected by trauma
Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, learners will be able to:

Understand childhood trauma and its impact on children's development.
Explain how trauma affects the developing brain and influences behaviour.
Recognise different attachment styles and understand how disrupted attachment shapes relationships.
Identify behaviour as a form of communication and respond using trauma-informed approaches.
Recognise trauma triggers, dysregulation and the role of shame in children's behaviour.
Apply therapeutic parenting principles, including the PACE approach, co-regulation and effective repair.
Build trust, resilience and emotional safety through everyday interactions.
Support children's identity, life story, education and multi-agency care.
Recognise compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress and burnout in themselves.
Use reflective practice, supervision and self-care strategies to maintain their own wellbeing while providing high-quality therapeutic care.

Estimated Learning Time: 2.5–3 hours
Assessment: 10-question multiple-choice assessment
Pass Mark: 80%
Certificate: Certificate of Completion awarded on successful completion of the course.