Certified Formator™ Enrollment Agreement

1. About this agreement

Version 2.0, effective November 1, 2026.

This is a legally binding agreement between you, the learner, and Panibago LLC d/b/a The Formator Institute ("FI," "we," "us"), 9 Union Square, Unit #1014, Southbury, CT 06488. This agreement covers every Certified Formator™ purchase: the Full Program, any single Part, and the Examination & Certification course bought on its own for $100 or included in the Full Program. Please read it before you buy.

How you accept it. You accept this agreement when you check the box at checkout and complete your purchase. If you're given access without a payment, such as complimentary access or a 100% code, you accept it by enrolling in or using the courses. Your acceptance is your electronic signature and has the same effect as a signature on paper. You have to be at least 18 years old to enroll, and by accepting this agreement you confirm that you are. We keep a record of each acceptance and the version you accepted.

Documents that are part of this agreement. The Code of Professional Excellence for Certified Formators, linked in Section 3, is part of this agreement. The Code can change. The version in force is the one published at formatorinstitute.com/code-of-professional-excellence/, and we email every Certified Formator at least 30 days before a new version takes effect. Our Privacy Policy describes how we handle personal data. It is a notice, not a term of this agreement.

2. What you're buying

The Certified Formator™ program is six courses on certifiedformator.com. You can buy the Full Program or one course at a time. All prices are in US dollars.

What each course includes. Video lessons, handbook chapters, interactive activities, quizzes, worksheets and other downloadable resources, as laid out on the course's About page. Part V includes The Antigua Rotation, an interactive simulation. Each course includes an AI tutor and email support at info@formatorinstitute.com.

How you earn things. Each Part has chapter quizzes with an 80% pass mark and earns a badge when you complete it. The Certified Formator™ credential requires all five Parts and the Examination & Certification course, which includes a final exam with an 85% pass mark and five written responses. Parts count toward the credential however you bought them, as long as everything is completed within the two-year window in Section 3.

The order of the Parts. The Parts are taught in sequence, and each builds on the frameworks before it. With the Full Program, each Part opens when you complete the one before it. A Part bought on its own opens right away, so you choose where to start; we recommend taking the Parts in order.

What this program is and isn't. This is professional development training. It isn't a license, a state certification, or a qualification for any regulated profession. We don't guarantee employment, placement, salary, or any other career result.

3. Access, certification, and renewal

Access. You have access to each course you buy for five years from the date you buy it, so you can come back to the lessons and resources after you're certified. If you were given a course without a purchase, your five years run from the date we gave you access; for learners moved over from the original program, that date is November 1, 2026. If we move the program to a different platform or update its content during that time, you keep access to the current version.

Two years to complete the credential. To earn the Certified Formator™ credential, complete all five Parts and the Examination & Certification course within two years of your first purchase or, if you were given access without a purchase, within two years of the date we gave you access. We update the content regularly to keep up with industry standards. If two years pass before you finish, the program restarts. A restart is a new purchase at the current price: the Full Program, or the Parts and the Examination & Certification course one at a time. Nothing carries over. Parts you completed before the restart don't count toward the credential, and a Full Program restart begins again at Part I. Your access to the courses you already bought continues for the rest of their five years.

Extensions. We can extend your two-year window at our discretion, for a documented reason. Ask in writing at info@formatorinstitute.com before your window ends, with the reason and any documentation. We don't have to grant an extension, and an extension doesn't change your five years of access.

Certification. Your certificate is issued when you complete the Examination & Certification course. It's valid for two years from the completion date shown on it. The name on your certificate comes from your profile when the certificate is issued, so check your name before you finish the examination.

If you earned the original credential. If you passed the final assessment of the original Certified Formator™ program, your credential stands. Accepting this agreement doesn't reset it or ask you to retake anything. Your certification is valid for two years from the date you passed, and renewal is due then under the renewal terms we publish. Your complimentary access to the current courses is yours to use as you like; it doesn't change your certification date.

Verifying your credential. We keep a register of Certified Formators. When an agency, a family or an employer asks us to verify a credential, we confirm whether it's active, expired, suspended or revoked, and the dates. We don't share your scores or your coursework, and we don't publish suspensions or revocations.

Renewal. The credential is renewed every two years. We'll publish the renewal requirements and fee before the first renewals are due, and email you at least 90 days before your certificate expires. We may change the renewal requirements and fee with reasonable notice. Renewal is a separate purchase that this agreement doesn't cover.

Code of Professional Excellence. By accepting this agreement, you agree to follow the Code of Professional Excellence for Certified Formators, in the version in force (Section 1), from the day you're certified. A serious violation that puts child welfare or professional integrity at risk can lead to suspension or revocation of your certification, after the review and appeal process set out in the Code. The same process applies to an academic integrity finding under Section 5.

Using the credential. While your certification is active, you may call yourself a Certified Formator™ and display your certificate and badges. You may describe the program as "advanced professional development training" completed through The Formator Institute. You may not present it as a license or a state-required certification, claim that it guarantees jobs, advancement, or pay, or use FI's trademarks in a way that suggests FI endorses services beyond the training you completed. If your certification expires or is revoked, stop using the title until it's active again.

4. Payment, codes, and refunds

Payment. You pay in full at checkout. Payments are processed by Stripe. The price shown at checkout, after any code, is the full amount you owe. Prices don't include sales tax. We don't collect sales tax on course purchases today; if a tax applies to your purchase in the future, it's shown at checkout before you pay. We may change prices at any time, and a change never affects a course you've already bought.

Codes. Discount, partner and voucher codes have to be entered at checkout and can't be applied after payment. One code per purchase. Codes have no cash value and apply only to the product they were issued for. A partner agency's code can be used by every learner that agency refers. A seat code, or a code we issue to one person, is single-use and can't be transferred.

No upgrade credit. Each course and the Full Program is a separate purchase. If you buy a single Part and later buy the Full Program, the amount you paid for the Part isn't credited toward the Full Program or refunded.

Refunds. You can get a full refund if you ask within seven days of purchase and haven't opened any course content beyond the free Introduction and the course About pages. For a Part bought on its own, that means no lesson in that Part has been opened. After seven days, or once that content is opened, whichever comes first, the purchase is final. To ask for a refund, email info@formatorinstitute.com. We answer within two business days (Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM Eastern). Refunds go back to the original payment method, and access to the refunded course ends.

Agency seats. If your access came through a seat an agency bought for you, you paid nothing, so there's no refund to you. Within seven days of your enrollment, as long as you haven't opened anything beyond the free Introduction, the agency can ask us for a replacement seat code to give to someone else.

Complimentary access. Learners who completed the original Certified Formator™ program, and learners whose original access was still active or extended when the program moved, receive complimentary access to the current program under this agreement. Your access period and your two-year window run from the date we gave you access, as Section 3 explains. Learners whose original two-month access ended before they finished, without an extension, can email info@formatorinstitute.com to request access. Complimentary access has no refund because nothing was paid.

Unpaid or reversed payments. If a payment fails or is reversed, we may end access to the courses it covered.

5. Your account, your work, and your information

Your account is personal. You confirm that you're the person enrolling and that you'll complete the coursework yourself. Don't share your login or give anyone else access to the courses.

Doing your own work. You may use the AI tutor built into the courses. You may not use outside AI tools, other people, or other services to write your quiz answers, exam answers, or written responses, and you may not collaborate with others on graded work. We may check identity and the authenticity of work. If we find a violation, we may end your enrollment without a refund, deny or revoke certification, and tell the agency that referred you, if one did. Before we act, you get the same review and appeal process as a Code violation, set out in the Code of Professional Excellence (Section 3). A certificate earned through misrepresentation or unauthorized help is void from the start.

How written responses are marked. Written responses in the Examination & Certification course are scored by the platform's AI feedback tool against the course rubric. If you think a result is wrong, email info@formatorinstitute.com and we'll review it.

FI's materials. All course content belongs to FI, including the handbook, videos, frameworks, simulations, quizzes, exams, and certification process. So do FI's trademarks, including FORMATOR™, FORMATOR INSTITUTE™, FORMATOR METHOD™, and FORMATOR ASSESSMENT™. You get a personal, non-transferable license to use the materials for your own learning during your access period. Resources marked as downloadable, such as worksheets, you may keep and use in your own work with the children and families you care for, including sharing a completed worksheet with a family you work for. You may not pass them on beyond that, for example to an employer's wider staff, to an agency, or in training of your own, or present them as yours. You may not copy, share, sell, publish, or adapt the materials, or upload them to an AI tool or any other service. These limits continue after your access ends. Misuse of FI's materials would harm FI in ways money can't repair, so FI may ask a court to stop it (an injunction or a similar order) as well as seek damages. Copyright © 2026 Panibago LLC d/b/a The Formator Institute™. All rights reserved.

Your work. You keep ownership of what you write in the courses. You give FI permission to store it, mark it, and use it without your name to run and improve the program. We'll only quote you by name with your permission, for example the testimonial permission in the post-program questionnaire.

Confidentiality. Course materials are confidential to FI. Don't disclose them to anyone else. This lasts three years after your access ends, and indefinitely for proprietary frameworks and assessment materials.

Privacy. Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your information. We use service providers to run the program, including Coursebox (the course platform and its AI features) and Stripe (payments). They receive your information only to provide those services. If you enroll with a partner agency's code, or through a seat the agency bought, we tell that agency two things and nothing more: whether you enrolled, and whether you earned the credential. We don't share your scores or your progress. By using the code, you agree to that. We also confirm the status of your credential to anyone who asks to verify it, as Section 3 explains. We don't sell your personal information.

Emails from us. By enrolling, you agree to receive emails from FI, including program updates, renewal reminders, newsletters, event invitations, and offers. You can unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time with the link in each email or by writing to info@formatorinstitute.com. We'll still send emails you need for your enrollment, such as receipts, access notices, and certification updates.

6. Legal terms

Disclaimers. The program is educational training only. It isn't counseling, therapy, legal advice, or any other licensed professional service, and any coaching in it is educational. You're responsible for how you apply what you learn in your work. The program is provided "as is," and we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

Limit of liability. Our total liability under this agreement is limited to the amount you paid for the courses involved. We aren't liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including damages from how you apply the course materials. Nothing here limits consumer rights that the law doesn't allow us to limit.

Indemnity. You agree to cover FI's losses and reasonable legal fees from claims arising out of your breach of this agreement or your use of FI's materials in violation of it.

How long this agreement lasts, and ending it. This agreement lasts until your access to every course you bought or were given has ended. Either party may end it earlier if the other materially breaches it and doesn't fix the breach within 15 days of written notice. Sections 3 (Code of Professional Excellence, Using the credential), 5 (FI's materials, Confidentiality) and 6 continue after it ends, and the Code continues to apply for as long as your certification is active.

Events outside anyone's control. Neither party is responsible for delays caused by events outside its reasonable control, such as natural disasters, public health emergencies, platform or supplier outages, or government action. The affected party will give prompt notice and resume as soon as it reasonably can. If an event of this kind, including a platform outage, takes a meaningful part of your two-year window, you can ask for an extension under Section 3.

Disputes. We'll first try to resolve any dispute by talking it through. If it isn't resolved within 30 days, it will be settled by binding arbitration under the rules of the American Arbitration Association, held in Connecticut, and judgment on the award may be entered in any court with jurisdiction. If arbitration isn't enforceable where you live, disputes go to the Connecticut state courts. Claims are brought individually, not as part of a class, collective, or representative action. The party that wins a dispute is entitled to its reasonable costs and attorney's fees.

Governing law. Connecticut law governs this agreement.

Notices. We send notices to the email address on your account. You send notices to info@formatorinstitute.com. Either party may also use certified mail to the other's address.

Changes to this agreement. We may update this agreement for future purchases by posting a new version with a new effective date. The version you accepted governs each purchase. If you hold courses under more than one version, the latest version you accepted sets the rules for the credential: the two-year window (still counted from your first purchase), a restart, and which Code applies. The earlier version keeps governing the price and refund of the purchases made under it.

Transfer. You may not transfer this agreement or your access. FI may transfer this agreement to a successor, including as part of a merger or sale of the business, and will notify you if it does.

General. This agreement, with the documents named in Section 1, is the entire agreement between you and FI about the program and replaces any earlier agreement about it. If any part is found unenforceable, it will be limited to the extent needed and the rest stays in effect. Not enforcing a term isn't a waiver of it. The rule that ambiguous terms are read against the drafter doesn't apply.

Questions about this agreement: info@formatorinstitute.com.