Workshop Period 1
Thursday, July 26
10:30 am – 12:30 pm

1A — It’s a Package Deal: Your Child, Their Trauma
This session addresses how trauma (neglect, abuse, institutionalization, etc.) affects the developing brain, and thus impacts child development, attachment, emotional regulation, sensory integration, and response to fear and stress. The presenter will offer practical parenting solutions to promote healing for traumatized children. Participants will also learn to be more aware of their own triggers and responses to working with and parenting children with trauma histories.
Kate Trujillo, The Adoption Exchange, Colorado

1B — Defiance, Holes in the Walls, Failing Grades—What’s Up with That?
You know that consequences don’t work. You know that it is fear and shame behind your teen’s behaviors that are driving you crazy. Of course, it’s hard to see that when your teenager is pushing your buttons and getting on your last nerve. Get some hands-on practice looking behind the behaviors, and finding ways to connect in spite of them.
Kathleen Benckendorf, Attachment and Integration Methods, Missouri

1C — Building an Adoption Competent Mental Health Workforce: Moving from Development to National Replication
Join the Center for Adoption Support and Education and leaders from replication sites in California, Minnesota, and North Carolina to learn about the development, implementation, and evaluation of a multi-year national initiative—Training for Adoption Competency. Site representatives will describe their experiences in implementing the training and building community-based, adoption-competent clinical services. Lessons learned will be shared to help others implement evidence-informed adoption-competency training for mental health and child welfare professionals.
Debbie Riley, The Center for Adoption Support and Education, Maryland • Edythe Swidler, Lilliput Children’s Services, California • JaeRan Kim, Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare, University of Minnesota • Janine Szymanski, Family NET of Catawba County, North Carolina

1D — Transforming the Difficult Child: The Nurtured Heart Approach
Adoptive parents and professionals often find themselves struggling with the intensity of challenging children. Faced with uncontrolled anger, aggression, defiance, and disrespect, most adults react by increasing the severity of normal parenting methods, which regularly make situations worse. Come learn about an approach that helps children use their intensity successfully, and leave with a powerful understanding and skill set to help all children to fully engage life in positive ways, ignite greatness, and flourish.
Howard Glasser, Children’s Success Foundation, Arizona

1E — Be Heard! Child Welfare Advocacy
This all-day event will start with a two-hour workshop for U.S. parents, youth, and professionals who want to improve outcomes for waiting and adopted youth, followed by trips to Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress. The workshop will teach participants to advocate at the federal and local policy level, and will include effective advocacy strategies and tips. Participants will also gain insight into federal child welfare legislation and advocacy initiatives.
Kim Stevens, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Massachusetts • Joe Kroll, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Minnesota • Nicole Dobbins, Voice for Adoption, District of Columbia • John Sciamanna, National Foster Care Coalition, District of Columbia

1F — The Home Study Survival Guide
Prospective adoptive parents can feel anxious about meeting with a social worker during the home study process. “What will she think of us?” “Is it okay to talk about the challenges we have faced?” “Will she examine our home with white gloves?” This workshop will focus on what to expect during the home study process, and will guide prospective adopters to make use of the process to sort through what type of adoption is right for their family. Participants will also learn what preparation and training they should do before placement.
Irene S. Jordan & Jessica Sullivan, Adoptions Together, Maryland

1G — Perspectives of Youth and Young Adults Adopted by LGBT-Headed Families
In this session, the speakers present the findings of a research project that learned from youth about their experiences being adopted from foster care by an LGBT-headed family. This is one of very few studies that look at the perspectives of youth in their own words. The speakers will discuss LGBT adoptions, plus youth perspectives on their family experience and information about their adoptive families.
Patricia A. Cody, Ruth G. McRoy, & Susan Ayers-Lopez, AdoptUSKids Evaluation Team, Texas • Kathy Ledesma, AdoptUSKids National Project Director, Maryland

1H — Positioning for Strategic Change: Understanding Organizational Stress as a Barrier to System Transformation
Our system of care has become as stressed and traumatized as the families we serve. Staff are tired, worried, and pulled into the same chaos, crisis management, and fragmented decision-making we see in clients. Transitioning child welfare programs into truly trauma-informed systems requires becoming a trauma-sensitive system first. The session will explore the parallel process of trauma as we consider the intersection of organizational change and clinical programming through a new paradigm—emotional regulatory healing.
Juli Alvarado, Coaching for LIFE!, Colorado

1I — A Family for Every Child: Family Finding and the Search for Relatives
This session will explore a variety of family finding strategies and techniques to connect older foster children with a permanent family. Mr. Lopez, a private investigator, will also share his tips and techniques for finding relatives of children in foster care.
Carlos Lopez & Gayle Flavin, Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition, Missouri

1J — Empowered Transition: Helping Older Children Move into Successful Adoption
In this session, the director of a 25-year-old special needs adoption agency describes its extremely successful techniques for moving older children into adoptive families. Child and prospective family each have their own advocates during the visiting process, and are equal participants in the process. Families and children come together in solid permanent family life, and disruptions are at a minimum. This workshop offers both practical advice and the belief system that feeds the techniques.
Maris H. Blechner, Family Focus Adoption Services, New York

1K — Adoption Mentoring Partnership
The Adoption Mentoring Partnership, a university-community collaboration, was developed to match adopted college students with adopted children. Through the program, adoptees have a friend and resource to help them deal with issues such as transracial adoption, being adopted, and their own developing identity. This workshop will focus on creation of this comprehensive post-adoption program and the experiences of mentors and mentees.
Harold Grotevant, Quade French, & Jen Dolan, University of Massachusetts-Amherst

1L — Search and Reunion in Domestic and International Adoption
The media loves stories about adoption reunion because they can be dramatic, intense, and emotionally heartwarming. For those involved, reality is much more complex. Presented by a panel of adoptees and a social worker, this workshop will address what good preparation looks like for adoptees and families involved in search and reunion, what makes reunion successful, and how to cope with potential relationship challenges.
Ellen Singer, The Center for Adoption Support and Education, Maryland

 

Institutes
Thursday, July 26
2:00 – 5:00 pm

INST-01 — If Not Now…When? Building Your Adoption Competency
Children who suffer trauma have layers of emotional and psychological distress that continue to surface through each developmental stage. In this session, the speaker will present a portion of two permanency-focused, trauma-informed curricula designed to equip parents and professionals with knowledge and skills to sustain families through post-permanency crises. Participants will also learn more about each curricula and how training parents and workers about adoption issues can benefit their communities.
Allison Davis Maxon, Kinship Center, California

INST-02 — Beneath the Mask: Understanding Adopted Teens
Everyone has a disguise, especially adopted adolescents. Teens use masks to hide themselves, protect themselves, and forget the pain. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the complexities of adolescence for the adopted teen—issues of identity, abandonment, grief and loss, relinquishment—and how it affects personal and family development. Therapists and clinicians will learn the six most common adoption stuck-spots, a step-by-step adoption assessment, clinical intervention strategies, and therapy tools.
Debbie Riley, The Center for Adoption Support and Education, Maryland

INST-03 — Time Out: Meeting Foster/Adoptive/Kinship Parents’ Need for Respite with the AdoptUSKids Respite Program
In this session, presenters will explore the needs of foster, adoptive, and kinship families for respite care, as well as programs that have successfully met these needs. The presenters will share data from AdoptUSKids surveys of foster and adoptive parents in 20 states that revealed high levels of need and difficulties accessing respite, yet positive outcomes when parents were able to obtain the service. They will also share information about the 115 programs started with AdoptUSKids respite grants, including which kinds of programs have been successful, how some groups have been creative, and how programs have been sustained after the grants ended.
Diane Martin-Hushman, AdoptUSKids, Minnesota • Ruth G. McRoy & Susan Ayers-Lopez, AdoptUSKids Evaluation Team, Texas • Elissa Madden, University of Texas at Arlington • Nancy Magnall, Iowa Foster and Adoptive Parents Association

INST-04 — “Okay, Which One of You Took My Sanity?”
Although they live in different parts of the country, with different-sized families, and have unique spouses and children and different lifestyles, Matt and Claudia discovered that they use similar strategies for managing their adoptive families. The speakers will share 12 simple, yet powerful, parenting tips that combine technique and humor.
Claudia Fletcher, Adoption America Network, Minnesota • Matthew W. Hoffman, author/ adoptive parent, Maryland

INST-05 — Adoption and Foster Care Data: Issues and Trends
In this session, a panel of experts will discuss data on types of adoption and children’s exits from foster care. First, the presenters will explore the vital and challenging task of collecting data on all types of adoption (intercountry, public, and private), and facilitate a discussion of the implications on special needs and other adoptions. Next, the session will identify where children go when they leave foster care and how that data has changed over time. Topics covered will include permanency as a portion of all foster care exits, and differences by age and race.
Phyllis Charles & Matt Shuman, Child Welfare Information Gateway, Virginia • Penelope L. Maza, Children’s Bureau (retired), Maryland • Victor E. Flango, National Center for State Courts, Virginia • Heather Swope & Valeria Fajardo, Children’s Bureau, District of Columbia

INST-06 — International Adoption Today: History, Process, and Medical and Developmental Issues
This institute will begin with the history of international adoption, and will explore recent changes and the effect of the Hague Convention, as well as the adoption process (home study, eligibility rules, travel, etc.). In addition, the session will cover basic medical and developmental information related to internationally adopted children, especially key health issues in the first year after adoption. Topics covered will include reviewing medical records, post-adoptive medical screening, treatment of medical conditions, and assessment of growth, development, and nutrition.
Elaine Schulte, Cleveland Clinic Department of Pediatrics, Ohio • Rebecca Harris, Joint Council on International Children’s Services, Virginia • Susan Orban, Children’s Home Society & Family Services, Maryland

INST-07 — Identity Formation for Transracially Placed Adopted Persons
A strong sense of identity is the foundation for growth in many areas of our lives. Come learn about the importance of identity formation and explore how to help your transracially adopted child take on that task. The presenters will share research on and personal experiences with identity formation. Then, using exercises, small group discussion, and case examples, they will share strategies parents can use to help their families build positive racial and cultural identities and build their own multicultural village.
Judy Stigger, Adoption Learning Partners, Illinois • Gina Miranda Samuels, University of Chicago, Illinois • Brandi N. Hill & Tiara Beach, Children’s Home Society & Family Services, Maryland

INST-08 — Permanency Values Training
For three years, Casey Family Programs has been assisting more than 37 states, tribal nations, and court jurisdictions to hold permanency roundtables—a method to address and strengthen their capacity to seek and achieve permanency for all youth in care. In this session, the speaker will provide information about the values training and present proven strategies for achieving permanency for all youth.
Susan Badeau, Casey Family Programs, Pennsylvania

INST-09 — Recruiting and Retaining Families in Urban Communities
In this institute, participants will learn about the latest and most promising recruitment efforts for both finding families of color and finding families for foster children in large cities. Speakers will first present lessons learned from a recent Adoption Opportunities diligent recruitment grant, including how to partner with communities from which children in foster care come and how to recruit new resource families. Next, presenters will discuss a regional recruitment and retention initiative in the D.C. area that relies on a strong regional recruitment and retention partnership to succeed. Participants will gain tools they need to replicate this successful model and constellation of promising practices within their own neighboring counties and cities.
Jackie McCray, Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services, Ohio • Kamilah Bunn, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, District of Columbia • Kate Lodge, Partners for Forever Families, Ohio • Ritu Atwal, District of Columbia Child and Family Services Agency • Beverly Howard, Fairfax County Department of Family Services, Virginia • Michael Demidenko, Frederick County Department of Social Services, Maryland

INST-10 — Every Youth Needs a Permanent Parent before Aging Out of Care: How You Can Make It Happen
This presentation will make the case that every youth needs a parent before they leave care and will explore strategies to recruit lifetime parents for these young adults. In addition to presenting recent research findings about child-focused recruitment, the speaker will discuss how to use mentors and volunteers to recruit lifetime families, bring in constructive adults who are already a part of the young person's life, and create opportunities for youth to share time and space with prospective and waiting parents.
Pat O'Brien, You Gotta Believe!, New York

INST-11 — Caring for the Caregivers: Self-Care for Adoptive Parents
This workshop will briefly explore and acknowledge the multiple stressors that foster and adoptive families experience. While understanding this stress is important, the workshop will focus on solutions. The speakers will emphasize strategies that help to build coping and resilience in parents who do the hard work of caring for children who have experienced trauma and separation from their families of origin.
Betsy Keefer Smalley & Lois Tyler, Institute for Human Services, Ohio

INST-12 — The Role of Kinship Care in Child Welfare
Designed for professionals, this workshop provides up-to-date information on the increasing role of kinship care in child welfare, implementation of the federal Fostering Connections Act, and tools and strategies for locating, assessing, and engaging kinship caregivers. In addition to addressing permanency planning and adoption preparation for kin caregivers, the presenters will review their Family Connections Act grant project and share evaluation findings and promising practices in family engagement and kinship support.
Karen Alvord, Beverly Johnson & Michelle Pelletier, Lilliput Children’s Services, California

 

Workshop Period 2
Friday, July 27
10:30 am – noon

2A — Multisystem, Multilevel Assessments in the Home Study and Post-Adoptive Services: Let’s Get It Right
This session will explore recent methodological assessment approaches to adoption selection and post-adoptive services delivery through a conceptual framework that bridges systemic and behavioral interactional perspectives and techniques. The presenter will argue for the necessity of multilevel/multisystem assessment procedures that match the system level of the family being assessed, and emphasize that assessments be based both on what people say and how they behave.
Wayne Duehn, University of Texas at Arlington (retired)

2B — Parenting Both Biological and Adopted Children
Adoptive parents should do all they can to educate themselves about adoption and help their adopted child overcome obstacles and fit into the new family. At the same time, however, the adoptee’s sibling faces challenges too, especially if that sibling is the parents’ biological child. We cannot allow any of our children to feel like second-class citizens. Learn to address the needs of all of your children equitably and to celebrate differences while celebrating the whole family unit.
Tonya M. Logan, Kayla’s Village, District of Columbia • Samuel Tramel, D.C. Children’s Trust Fund

2C — Dissolution of Adoptive Family: A Post-Adoption Services Program’s Response
This session will explore the effects of dissolution on the adoptive family and how post-adoption service programs can respond. Through exercises, questions, and discussion, the presenters will enable participants to recognize how dissolution affects families and learn how to improve family support services.
Karen Chaudhry & Lisa Mathey, United Methodist Family Services, Virginia

2D — Love Enough for a Lifetime: When “Bad” Outcomes Happen in “Good” Families
Providing a permanent family is a great way to improve outcomes for many foster children. But what happens when permanence doesn’t fix everything? What if your child runs away? Uses drugs? Goes to prison? Becomes pregnant? Drops out of contact? The presenters are parents by birth, adoption, foster care, and kinship care. With two of their children, they will present this workshop on building family resilience, learning to love enough for a lifetime, and coping when “bad” outcomes happen in “good” families.
Susan Badeau, Casey Family Programs, Pennsylvania

2E — When Heroes Become Villains: When Courts and Social Services Turn on Adoptive Parents and Children in Need of Help
Too often adoptive parents of children with special needs find they need help and services after an adoption is finalized, but social services staff and courts do not provide the support needed. Before the adoption, the adoptive parents were viewed as heroes for saving these children, but now they are seen as villains for seeking financial or therapeutic help. This workshop will explore the legal and structural reasons for that change in attitude, and suggest a legal framework for combating it.
Wright Walling, Walling, Berg & Debele, Minnesota

2F — Adopting the Older Child: Dispelling Myths and Embracing Reality
There are many unique joys and challenges associated with parenting an older adopted child. This workshop will explore some of the common myths, misconceptions, and realities of older child adoption. The presenters will examine the link between past trauma and challenging behavior, and discuss effective parenting techniques and approaches. Participants will gain a better understanding of how to foster healthy relationships with their child through realistic expectations, consistency and commitment, and healthy doses of patience, understanding, and humor.
Jennifer Kelman, Kerry Pachino & Carol Edelstein, Adoptions Together, Maryland

2G — Courageous Conversations about Race and Adoption
Why does it sometimes take tragedy (like Trayvon Martin’s murder) to remind us of the dire risks to children of color in America’s too often dangerous racial landscape? Supporting children while they make sense of race can feel overwhelming, particularly for white parents. As young people experience both overt and subtle racism, how can adults learn to effectively support adoptees of color? How do white children in transracial families understand race? How do we have conversations about racism that feel empowering rather than depressing? Come learn from two experienced triad members who are also nationally recognized experts on race, adoption, and transracial family life.
John Raible, University of Nebraska College of Education and Human Services • Beth Hall, Pact, An Adoption Alliance, California

2H — Damage Control: Interventions to Address Secondary Trauma and Compassion Fatigue in Child Welfare Professionals
The fiscal and human costs of secondary trauma and compassion fatigue are high. Diminished productivity, high turnover, and burnout are frequent outcomes of daily exposure to trauma. Research is proving the efficacy of somatic interventions in reducing trauma symptoms, decreasing stress, and restoring vitality and health. This workshop provides attendees with practical, cost-effective techniques that build resiliency, promote recovery for workers, and develop a workplace culture of self-care.
Stella Atienza, Destination Family Youth Permanency Project, California • Glynis Butler-Stone, Sierra Forever Families, California

2I — The Already Recruited Family:
Re-engaging Parents Who Haven’t Been Matched Yet
As a result of several effective recruitment campaigns over the last several years, many families have gone through the home study process, were not matched, and now have given up. Many of these families would be excellent parents to children who need a family. This session will present strategies to work with previously recruited yet unmatched families.
Wendy Spoerl, Adopt America Network, Ohio • Claudia Fletcher, Adopt America Network, Minnesota

2J — Core Competencies for Adopting Youth from Residential Placements
This workshop will help families assess their ability to adopt youth who are in residential treatment. Following an overview of residential services, the presenter will offer strategies families can use to determine if they can provide permanency for youth in residential care who have emotional, developmental, or mental health needs. Topics will include special education, clinical and medical needs, behavior management, supervision needs, partnering with community services, family preparation, and the need for reflection and self-awareness.
Michael Carroll, Hillside Children’s Center, New York

2K — How Much More “Special” Can We Take? Making Special Education Really Work
Children who join their families through adoption, foster care, or kinship care are much more likely to have disabilities or other special needs that require early intervention or special education services. This interactive workshop for families and professionals will review the basics of special education eligibility and service delivery, and cover topics of particular importance to our families such as IEPs and IFSPs, resolving disputes, behavior intervention plans, and post-school transition.
Kelly Henderson, Formed Families Forward, Virginia • Elisa Rosman, School Readiness Consulting, District of Columbia

2L — To Grandmother’s House We Go: How Will the Judge Decide in Kin v. Foster Parent Cases
It’s a familiar story. A relative comes forward asking to keep a child in the family. A foster child’s adoption is delayed or derailed while social workers and lawyers consider what is best for the child. In a session led by judges and lawyers who grapple with kin v. foster parent cases in court, learn about laws granting varying degrees of preference to relatives and current caregivers, and explore current trends in law and policy.
Deborah Dentler, attorney-at-law, California • Amy Pellman, Los Angeles Superior Court, California

 

Workshop Period 3
Friday, July 27
1:30 – 3:00 pm

3A — The Impact of Trauma on Child Development, Attachment, and Adoption: Helping Families and Children Heal
This workshop will describe the psychological and neurological impact of trauma on attachment, child development, and adoption. Participants will learn how healthy attachment develops, what healthy attachment looks like, and signs of attachment challenges in parent-child relationships. The speaker will also offer suggestions for helping parents build healthy attachments with their children and helping children heal from past trauma.
C. Lynne Edwards, coordinators2inc, Virginia

3B — Laughing in the Face of Danger: Dads Talk
During this session, two experienced fathers share stories, insights, and advice from a man’s point of view about adoption, foster care, and parenting in general. With a total of 45 years and 30 children between them, these two dads have learned not to take things too seriously—at least not all the time! Get renewed, share successes and challenges, have a good laugh, and more.
Randy Ross, adoptive parent, Missouri • Buddy Stevens, adoptive parent, Massachusetts

3C — Building Support Groups
In this workshop, two experienced group leaders will share information, tips, and techniques about how to start adoption support groups—both for current adoptive families and prospective adopters. The presenters will cover ways to promote attendance, methods of engaging families, and strategies for ensuring the group is effective.
Lori Ross, Midwest Foster Care & Adoption Association, Missouri • Loryn E. Smith, Woven Basket Christian Adoption Services, Florida

3D — Creating Sexual Safety and Promoting Recovery in Adoption and Foster Care
In this session, workers will develop knowledge and skills they need to help parents address the needs of adopted children who have been sexually abused. Discover how to help parents create a healing milieu to counteract the negative impact of past trauma on a child’s psychosocial and cognitive development, and to enhance positive self-esteem. Learn how to help adoptive families become the central ingredient in children’s recovery.
Wayne Duehn, University of Texas at Arlington (retired)

3E — Supporting and Engaging Youth: The California APSS and CAYAT Model
Since 2005, Los Angeles County’s Adoption Promotion & Support Services (APSS) Program has supported children and families during adoption from foster care. APSS includes a youth mentoring program and, during the first part of this workshop, the speakers will explore successes and challenges related to mentoring youth who are waiting to be adopted. In the second half, presenters will discuss the development, benefits, and challenges of the California Adopted Youth Advocacy Team (CAYAT), which was founded in 2010 with support from several APSS agencies and NACAC. Made up of youth and young adult adoptees, CAYAT focuses on changing policy and educational standards, raising awareness about key issues, and providing an understanding environment for adoptees.
Amy Heilman, Claudia Felder, & Chad Lucia, Children’s Bureau of Southern California

3F — Financing Your Adoption: There Is an Adoption in Everyone’s Budget
Too often people are led to believe that they cannot afford a private domestic adoption. In this session, learn about all of the available resources for different types of domestic adoptions and how you can afford to make your dream of building your family through adoption come true.
Amanda Grant, USAdopt, New York

3G — Is the Multi-Ethnic Placement Act a Misguided Solution to a Misdiagnosed Problem?
Using national data and legislative history, this workshop will examine the situation of waiting and adopted children of minority racial and ethnic backgrounds shortly after passage of MEPA and its amendments to determine whether the beliefs about these groups are supported by data. In addition, the speaker will explore the 10-year trend in transracial adoption, and whether the legislation has had the anticipated impact on the adoption of children.
Penelope L. Maza, Children’s Bureau (retired), Maryland

3H — Customer Service from the Inside Out
Even the most seasoned professionals find it difficult to respond to the needs of a diverse clientele during challenging economic times, through inflexible systems while maintaining a healthy organization. This experiential workshop will explore customer service from the inside out, addressing issues of diversity, inclusiveness, and how we bring ourselves to the workplace. Presenters will cover strategies for enhancing healthy interactions between staff, delivering attuned customer service, and facilitating teamwork.
Janice Goldwater & Erica Moltz, Adoptions Together, Maryland • Chaz Holman, Post Permanency Family Center, District of Columbia

3I — Paradigm Shift: Outgoing Adoptions
Adoption by American military and expatriate families living overseas, as well as citizens of other countries, offers an exciting alternative to achieving permanence for waiting U.S. foster children. Panel members will explain how their agencies work on behalf of the waiting children, how they serve prospective families, and which public entities are involved.
Suzanne Dosh & Casi Preheim, The Adoption Exchange, Colorado • LaTina Woolen, U.S. Department of State Office of Children’s Issues, District of Columbia • DeGuerre Blackburn, Voice for International Development and Adoption Agency, New York

3J — Wendy’s Wonderful Kids: Evaluation of a National Campaign for Older Child Adoption
This workshop will present evaluation findings for the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids (WWK) program, an innovative and intensive child-focused model for achieving adoptions for older foster children, which operates in all 50 states, D.C., and Canada. The speakers will also describe the components of the WWK model, highlighting those linked to success, and describe how the program’s effectiveness differs across populations.
Sharon Vandivere, Child Trends, District of Columbia • Rita Soronen, Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, Ohio

3K — From Chaos to Calm
Calling all parents who need a break! Do you feel misunderstood, judged, and criticized? Do you feel like you give and give and get little in return? Are your child's behaviors concerning? Are you tired? If so, this workshop is for you. You will spend time learning to relax and let go of some of your stress. You will leave this workshop a different parent—one with more knowledge and motivation who feels relieved, refreshed, and energized.
Cara Williams & Juli Alvarado, Coaching for LIFE!, Colorado

3L — Openness in Adoption: Beyond Contracts to Building Relationships
Openness in adoption is often misunderstood and can create anxiety in birth and adoptive families. Although post-adoption contracts are increasing and are an important first step, families will benefit from learning skills to enhance connections and build meaningful relationships between birth and adoptive families. With the right tools, families can successfully engage in the openness experience. This workshop discusses the existing practice of post-adoption contracts and explores openness in adoption within a relationship building model.
Kimberly A. Paglino, adoptee/Monmouth University, New Jersey • Lynette M. Leming, adoption professional/birth mother, New Jersey

 

Workshop Period 4
Friday, July 27
3:30 – 5:00 pm

4A — Attachment, Trauma, and Executive Function
Which is the core issue—attachment, trauma, or executive function? These big three mimic and interact with each other: Do I treat trauma so the child can attach or help the child attach so she can work through her trauma? This workshop will tease out the differences and explain where to focus first when more than one of these core issues is in the mix.
John Sobraske, adoption psychotherapist, New York

4B — Love and Loss in Adoption
There are many losses in adoption and many dreams that will never be realized. Hear from an adoptive parent about the dreams she had for her children—realized and unrealized—and their effect on the family. Hear from an adopted person about her own losses, and how they affected her life and how she views relationships. The speakers will also focus on challenges that arise in teenage years. Bring your own questions, success stories, and challenges.
Christina Romo, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Minnesota • Kim Stevens, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Massachusetts

4C — Adoption Assistance for Special Needs Adoption
In this session, you will learn the basics of adoption assistance for children adopted from foster care, including eligibility, benefits, taxes, and more. Participants will receive state- and province-specific information plus concrete strategies to better advocate for foster and adopted children who have special needs. The workshop will also include an overview of the U.S. federal adoption tax credit.
Josh Kroll, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Minnesota

4D — Parenting the Hurt Child
Parenting a hurt child calls for innovative, creative, and nurturing ideas. Too often, parents can’t understand why techniques used to successfully parent other children simply have no effect. This session will explore which parenting tools do not work and why, and help parents retire those tools without guilt. Parents will then learn new ways to help their child heal.
Regina Kupecky, Attachment and Bonding Center of Ohio

4E — Adoption IS a Diversity and Social Justice Issue
Whether in schools, workplaces, the media, or families’ daily lives, adoption is promoting historic changes in our country. But that reality is not yet widely reflected in public attitudes or policy, nor are the realities of the adopted people or members of their families (of origin and adoptive). This presentation examines the ways in which everyone in the adoption community will benefit as adoption is understood through the prism of social justice, diversity, and inclusion.
Adam Pertman, Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, New York

4F — Adopting Latino Children: What Parents and Professionals Should Know
The U.S. Latino population now exceeds 50 million, and the number of Latino children in the child welfare system has increased exponentially in recent years. This workshop will identify the organizational and cultural barriers to adopting within the Latino community, and explore how agencies can overcome these obstacles. In addition, the presenters will discuss universal Latino values and how to integrate these values into family practices, traditions, and parenting.
Maria L. Quintanilla, Latino Family Institute, California • Ernesto Loperena, New York Council on Adoptable Children

4G — LGBTQ Issues in Foster Care and Adoption
As professionals and resource parents, we are committed to caring for ALL youth—including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth. There are many youth whose sexual orientation is overlooked due to either lack of knowledge or myths. If we are to help youth build self-esteem and self-worth, we must understand that their sexuality is a major part of their identity. Join us for an interactive workshop looking at what parents and professionals can do to help youth they care for feel accepted and supported.
Mary M. McGowan, ATTACh, Minnesota

4H — Social Media in Child Welfare: Potential Uses, Pitfalls, and Opportunities
As social media becomes more commonplace, child welfare agencies are increasingly looking to see if it can be an effective tool for them, especially in the wake of tighter budgets. AdoptUSKids will show you some of the potential uses, pitfalls, and opportunities you might find through social media.
Kathy Ledesma, AdoptUSKids National Project Director, Maryland • Pat Rhoads, AdoptUSKids, Washington

4I — Engaging Foster Parents in Recruitment Efforts
Foster and adoptive families are consistently one of the top referral sources for new foster and adoptive families. They can be the greatest advocates for foster care and adoption since they have firsthand knowledge of the children and how rewarding an experience it can be. Learn how to engage these parents in the front-line work of seeking resource families.
Mike Hamblin, Maryanne McFarland, & John Thill, Utah Foster Care Foundation

4J — Camp Kinnect
Camp Kinnect is a day-long outdoor retreat for foster youth aged 12 to 18 that emphasizes the importance of having lifelong connections and attachments to a caring adult. Come learn about this collaboration between Kinship Center and the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.
Kimberly Felder & Paul Felder, Kinship Center, California • Sari Grant & Bryan D. Miller, Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services, California

4K — Parent Advocate Project
A public/private collaboration, the Parent Advocate Project supports strong relationships between birth families, foster parents, and social workers by facilitating early engagement before or shortly after a child is placed in out-of-home care. In this project, parent mentors who have successfully reunified with their children provide families with one-on-one support and guidance as they navigate the child welfare and family court systems to achieve timely reunification. Come learn more about this project that supports co-parenting between foster and birth parents to ensure healthier outcomes for children in care.
Ky’Neike King & Tenneh Johnson Kemah, Adoptions Together, Maryland

4L — The Intricacies of Sibling Placement in Foster Care
More than 75 percent of siblings in foster care are separated. Dividing family members, especially siblings, can lead to significant emotional, behavioral, and developmental concerns. Through lecture, discussion, and case presentations, this workshop will explore the complexities of sibling placement, clinical treatment, and maintaining sibling connections before, during, and after the foster care process.
David Pellack & Deborah Wolff, Family Service Foster Homes, New Jersey

Workshop Period 5
Saturday, July 28
9:00 – 10:30 am

5A — Healing Hearts: Intensive In-Home Treatment for Traumatized Children
In this session, the presenters will discuss a new family-based program that provides intensive in-home mental health treatment, psycho-education, and community connections for families whose children have experienced attachment disruptions and traumatic events. The speakers will explore the model, identify how best to work with families in the home, and share ideas for replicating the model.
Jeff L. Merkert & Faye L. Hall, Jewish Family Service of Greater Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

5B — Riding Your Internal Monsters Down
Parents who adopt experience changes in many arenas, including legal, psychosocial, and emotional. But what happens in parents’ deepest place of being—the soul? In what ways do adoptive parents find deep internal conflict and change as a result of welcoming a child into their lives? This workshop explores eight spiritual dynamics of adoptive parenting.
Bart Fletcher, United Methodist Church, Minnesota

5C — Enabling Adoptive Families to Succeed: How Do We Advance the Field of Post-Adoption Services?
This workshop discusses critical issues affecting the field of post-adoption services, reviews research related to families’ needs after adoption, and looks at model programs and interventions around the country. Participants will generate ideas for advancing post-adoption services nationally, particularly related to state and provincial advocacy.
Susan Livingston Smith, Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, North Carolina • Kim Stevens, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Massachusetts

5D — Inattentiveness and Hyperactivity in Adopted and Foster Children
Inattentiveness, hyperactivity, and impulsivity are the most common behavioral problems in adopted and foster children. The effectiveness of any preventative or therapeutic intervention largely depends on accurate diagnosis of the underlying issue. A pediatrician, social worker, and speech/language pathologist will discuss this multi-faceted problem, and explore the major medical, developmental, educational, and mental health causes of hyperactivity and inattentiveness other than ADHD, including FASD, PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and more.
Alla Gordina, Global Pediatrics and Family Medicine, New Jersey • Lydia Shifrin, licensed clinical social worker, New Jersey • Tatyana Elleseff, University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey/Smart Speech Therapy

5E — Learn How to Affect Implementation of the Fostering Connections Act
Parents and young people have shaped significant federal legislation recently, including the Fostering Connections Act. This session will help you be part of implementing the Fostering Connections Act in your state. You’ll learn to estimate how much your state will receive when it increases adoptions and places previously non-IV-E-eligible children for adoption, and advocate for how those new funds will be invested.
Joe Kroll, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Minnesota

5F — Managing the Stress of the Adoption Process and Why It Is Essential to Your Children
The adoption process can be one of the most stressful periods of a parent’s life. In this session, the presenters will share practical tips, provide resources, and teach basic techniques to help prospective adopters while they wait. Come learn how your ability to manage the stress of adoption affects your child’s ability to process the issues inherent to adoption.
Brooke Randolph, MLJ Adoptions, Indiana • Judy M. Miller, NliveN, LLC, Indiana

5G — “What My White Parents Didn’t Know … and Why I Am OK in Spite of It”
Transracially adopted co-presenters offer first-hand experiences and practical ideas adoptees can employ when faced with inevitable race and diversity challenges in adoption and foster care. The session will cover dating, dealing with racial jokes, and other everyday issues that transracial adoptees face.
April Dinwoodie, Doris Laurenceau, & Barry Chaffkin, Changing the World One Child at a Time, New York

5H — It Takes a Community: Building Strong Public/Private Partnerships
These days, there is greater impetus for child welfare collaboration. Public agencies have mandates, expertise, and resources; private agencies have flexibility to try innovative approaches and respond more creatively to needs. Together, the private and public sectors can build strong, sustainable programs that prepare and support families through adoption. This workshop will describe a successful private/public partnership and offer a toolkit to manage the challenges and opportunities in public/private collaboration.
Karen Alvord & Mary Tarro, Lilliput Children’s Services, California • Lois Rutten, Contra Costa County Children and Family Services, California

5I — Creating and Supporting Concurrent Families
As the face of adoption is changing, agencies find themselves searching for ways to identify and support families in the concurrent planning process. This workshop will offer participants a toolbox filled with strategies to prepare and support families in the concurrent planning process, and create partnerships between birth and adoptive families.
Edythe Swidler, Abby Loyola, & Shelley Balla-Hawkins, Lilliput Children’s Services, California

5J — Walking on Eggshells: When the Violent Perpetrator at Home Is the Adopted Teen
Adopted youth sometimes take out their issues on their adopted or foster family. In some cases, that youth may use threats of violence or actual violence against their parents (especially the mother) and siblings. In some instances the entire family feels like they are walking on eggshells, and the teen is holding them hostage emotionally. This workshop will discuss causes as well as treatment options for youth and their families.
Maryanne Mica, George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University, Missouri

5K — Laughter for the (Mental) Health of It: How to Ease the Stresses, Tensions, and Pains of Parenting and Everyday Life
Laughing is one of the healthiest things one can do when facing the deep stresses, tensions, and pains of everyday life and parenting in particular. This workshop will highlight how we can bring more laughter into both our home life and life in general. The presenter will also make the case that laughter is an essential ingredient in preventing parent burnout for those raising even the most difficult of children.
Pat O’Brien, You Gotta Believe!, New York

5L — My Birth Mother Friended Me!
Come learn how families can proactively (or retroactively) manage adolescent adoptee/ birth parent contact through Facebook and other media. The workshop will provide participants with clinical, communication, and relationship tools to navigate an adoption that is opened through a social networking site. Participants will also learn to cope with the change in idealized expectations of when and under what circumstances contact would occur, and manage dynamics that are complex and potentially problematic and require sensitive mediation and support.
Susan Ogden, Laura Teeter, & Beth Stahl, Adoptions Together, Maryland

 

Workshop Period 6
Saturday, July 28
10:45 am – 12:15 pm

6A — Child-Adult Relationship Enhancement: The CARES Model
The CARES model is a trauma-informed modification of specific Parent-Child Inter-action Therapy (PCIT) skills. This workshop will provide parents with hands-on interventions that help create a positive relationship while promoting positive behaviors and increasing compliance. In this interactive course, participants will practice skills that they can later use at home.
Tisha Way, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Ohio

6B — “I’ll Tell Them When They Are Older Because…”
Children do best when they know the truth about their lives, but sharing difficult information with children is not easy. This workshop will give you tools to discuss the most challenging situations (abuse, parental incarceration, death, HIV, incest, termination of parental rights) with children of all ages. Please bring your own challenging questions to the session. No topic is off limits!
Barry Chaffkin, April Dinwoodie, & Doris Laurenceau, Changing the World One Child at a Time, New York

6C — Navigating the Maze of Placing Your Child in Residential Treatment
This workshop will help participants understand how best to determine if a residential treatment facility is right for their child. The session offers information about selection criteria, financing the placement, and transitions back home.
Diane Mulligan, Children’s Help & Assistance for Residential Treatment, Colorado

6D — “I Look Like Everyone Else”—Living with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is the range of effects that can occur in an individual whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. Effects may include physical, mental, behavioral, and learning disabilities with possible lifelong implications. Jasmine and her adoptive mom will discuss life with FASD and present strategies and interventions that may help in raising a child affected by prenatal alcohol exposure.
Dianne O’Connor, Research Foundation of Mental Hygiene, New York • Jasmine Suarez-O’Connor, FASD In Action, New York

6E — A Statewide Coalition: Our Strategy for Results in New York State
The New York State Citizens’ Coalition for Children (NYSCCC) provides information, support, and advocacy for foster and adoptive parents in New York. This workshop will focus on how NYSCCC nurtures relationships with individual parents and its parent group network to identify and address key issues for advocacy at the state and county level.
Sarah Gerstenzang, New York State Citizens’ Coalition for Children

6F — Adoption Choices
Adoption has its own language and terms, which can be overwhelming for individuals just beginning the process. This workshop provides a basic primer about adoption types (private, agency, agency-assisted, child welfare system, etc.), geography (domestic vs. international), adoption language, and key federal laws. In addition, the presenter will touch on issues to consider such as the child’s health, age, gender, and race.
Michelle M. Hughes, Bridge Communications Inc./Law Offices of Michelle M. Hughes, P.C., Illinois

6G — The Modern Family: Exploration of the Relationship between Openness in Adoption and Openness in Sexual Orientation
This workshop examines the unique characteristics and strengths of gay and lesbian adoptive parents before, during, and after adoption, and explores how these characteristics affect the seven core adoption issues and enriches the experience of both parents and children. The speaker will provide a brief overview of these parallel issues (identity, loss, grief, rejection, intimacy, control, guilt, and shame) and explain how parents and children can manage these issues in a healthy way.
C. Lynne Edwards, coordinators2inc, Virginia • Sara Snowden, Virginia

6H — Beyond Panels: Adopted Persons as Professionals
The voices and experiences of adult adoptees have generally been accepted as a learning tool for waiting and current adoptive families. Less recognized is the increasing role that adoptees play as professionals in the adoption field. This session will review the history of the adult adoptee voice in adoption, explore how their professional roles are or are not used, cite examples of collaborative efforts highlighting adoptees’ achievements, and explore means by which increased alliances can occur.
Susan Branco Alvarado, licensed professional counselor, Virginia • JaeRan Kim, Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare, University of Minnesota • Stephanie Kripa Cooper-Lewter, University of South Carolina College of Social Work • Paula O’Loughlin, Stillwater Area Public Schools, Minnesota

6I — Another Approach to Training and Preparing Pre-Adoptive Families
Given the nature of the older youth now available for adoption, with their multiple diagnoses and sometimes failed adoptions, plus the recent issue of geographic distance involved in adoptive placement, Family Focus has developed a new approach to pre-adoptive family training. Going beyond the traditional, less comprehensive group training typically conducted, this new model has been tested and is now being presented to the national adoption community.
Jack Brennan, Maris Blechner, & Joanne Ferrante, Family Focus Adoption Services, New York

6J — How to Create and Maintain Partnerships to Achieve Permanency for Older Foster Youth
Hundreds of D.C. foster children await permanent families, and the Permanency Opportunities Project (POP) was created to find permanency for those children who have had a prolonged stay in care. POP works closely with youth, parents, and child welfare professionals to establish partnerships that ensure the use of intensive permanency efforts (including innovative child-specific recruitment, case-mining, specialized training, and teaming) throughout the case.
Monica Testa, Adoptions Together, Maryland • Anna Lustre & Temeka Parker, Permanency Opportunities Project, Maryland

6K — Deflecting Mother Blame: Survival Strategies for Raising Children with Trauma Histories
Why do traumatized kids so often treat mom badly? Come learn why traumatized children respond negatively to mom, understand what happens when mothers deflect blame, and develop strategies to help kids and parents. The presenter will help you cultivate skills to deflect blame, rethink expectations, use humor, develop resiliency, reclaim yourself, and prepare for a healthier lifelong relationship with your children.
Diane Martin-Hushman, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Minnesota

6L — Bridging the Gap: Families Working Together
This workshop highlights an exciting effort to build and maintain relationships and communication between birth parents and foster/ adoptive parents involved in a child’s life. In addition to examining the benefits and challenges of Bridging the Gap, the presenters will explore the roles and responsibilities shared by birth parents, foster/adoptive parents, and social workers during initial icebreaker meeting. Participants will learn how to successfully forge and maintain positive communication and relationships, and can ask the panel’s birth parent and foster parents about their experiences in such efforts.
Chauncey Strong & Claudia McDowell, Fairfax County Department of Family Services, Virginia • Adrienne Tucker, United Methodist Family Services, Virginia