Training for the People Who Protect and Raise Children

Practitioner-authored courses and continuing education.

Choose your path

Generic Training Doesn't Hold Up When It Matters

Whether you're building a child-safe organization or raising a child who didn't start life with you, generic resources leave knowledge gaps you don't see until they matter most.

Stakes for YSO Staff

  • You don't know what's missing until something goes wrong.

  • Generic compliance videos don't hold up in a real crisis.

  • One overlooked gap can become next month's crisis.

Stakes for Plan B Parents

  • Generic parenting resources don't cover your reality.

  • What worked for other families can backfire for yours.

  • An honest mistake can be misread as something worse.

Choose Your Path

For Youth-Serving Organizations

Close the Gaps Before They Become Crises

Self-paced courses built by people who have investigated these cases and run organizations like yours. Your team builds real working knowledge and earns IACET credit along the way.

See YSO Staff Courses
For Foster, Adoptive, Kinship, and Stepparents

Guidance for the Parenting Nobody Prepared You For

Courses taught by Amber Jewell, a foster care alumna and licensed clinical social worker, and Debbie Ausburn, a foster parent and stepparent. Move from reading about what works to building what works for your family.

See Plan B Courses

A Team, Not One Expert

YSO Academy's five instructors cover child protection law, juvenile justice, child welfare administration, clinical social work, school leadership, and counseling. Two are former foster parents, and two are attorneys who have defended youth organizations for decades, with one being a former juvenile court judge. All five still do this work today.

Debbie Ausburn, J.D.
Debbie Ausburn, J.D.

Gena Hood, Education Specialist
Gena Hood, Education Specialist

Amber Jewell, LSCSW
Amber Jewell, LSCSW

Tom Rawlings, J.D.
Tom Rawlings, J.D.

Donna Caudell, Ed.D.
Donna Caudell, Ed.D.

How It Works

  1. 1

    Find Your Track

    Browse courses built for YSO staff or Plan B parents.

  2. 2

    Learn on Your Schedule

    Complete self-paced courses whenever your team or family needs them.

  3. 3

    Apply What You Learn

    Earn IACET credit and put it to work immediately.

IACET Accredited Provider

YSO Academy is an IACET Accredited Provider, meeting the ANSI/IACET Standard for continuing education and training.

For YSO Staff

Free Incident Response Checklist

Know what to do in the first 24 hours, before you need it.

Get the Checklist
For Plan B Parents

10 Affirmations for Finding Hope

By Amber Jewell, LSCSW, a practical guide for the days that are harder than you expected.

Get the Guide

Courses and Books

Join us to learn how to protect and serve the children in your care.