Workshop Period 1
Thursday, August 8
10:30 am – 12:30 pm

1A — Reconciliation: Progress in Canada and the United States
The presenter will share the history of reconciliation efforts on behalf of Canadian Aboriginal and United States Native American children. He will also identify the principles necessary to build a foundation for an improved child welfare system that meets the needs of Aboriginal and Native youth and families. In addition to presenting the necessary steps to achieve reconciliation, the presenter will engage participants to work toward individual and collective action that will reduce disproportionality and improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Native youth.
Terry Cross, National Indian Child Welfare Association, Oregon

1B — Multisystem and Multilevel Family Assessment Procedures:
The Québec Experience
This workshop will explore the cutting edge of recent assessment approaches to adoption selection and post-adoption service delivery. The presenters will argue for multilevel and multisystem assessments that match the needs and capacities of the family involved, and emphasize that judgments should be based both on what people say and how they behave. In addition, the workshop will describe the procedures two regions in Québec undertook to develop adoption workers skilled in such assessments.
Dr. Wayne Duehn, School of Social Work, University of Texas at Arlington (retired) • Hélène Trembley, Adoption/Retrouvailles, Québec

1C — Parenting from the Trenches
See your kids in a whole new light! This workshop offers a toolbox of strategies for parenting children and teens. Topics include developing trust and attachment while helping children learn to manage their own behaviors, building self-esteem, and maintaining sanity. The presenter will give special attention to the unique world of teens.
Dr. Denise Goodman, trainer/consultant, Ohio

1D — A Servant’s Heart (handout)
Early on, helpers learn how to give. We care for those around us and put others first while delaying our needs and minimizing our discomfort. This workshop will challenge the professional helper to be mindful of their own self-care and understand barriers to proper self-care. The presentation encourages the participant to think about resiliency on both personal and professional levels. While this topic is serious, the subject matter is presented through storytelling and humor.
Deena McMahon, McMahon Counseling and Consultation Services, Minnesota

1E — Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) Explained (handout)
FASD often accompanies early maltreatment. This workshop will describe the intertwining of these two issues and the impact of FASD on cognition, emotional regulation, behavioral regulation, attachment, and biology. Learn the elements of effective treatment, parenting strategies, and tools to develop relevant specialized education plans for children with FASD.
Dr. Arthur Becker-Weidman, Center For Family Development, New York

1G — Changing Hats: Foster to Adopt (handout1, handout2, handout3, handout4, handout5, handout6)
Foster parent adoption is increasing as more and more agencies recognize the tremendous value of a child's foster family when an adoptive placement is under consideration. This workshop will explore the benefits of foster parent adoption, provide tools for foster parents to make sound decisions regarding permanency, and present strategies to help children cope with the transition from foster care to adoption.
Betsy Keefer Smalley & Lois Tyler, Institute for Human Services, Ohio

1H — Improving Successful Adoptions of Older LGBTQ Youth
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) adoption-eligible older youth are frequently not adopted. Often, this is because adults interested in adopting older youth don’t understand unique aspects of LGBTQ youth, including coming out, transgender spectrum issues, risk and protective factors, legal rights, healthy spirituality, and thriving. This session provides an overview of these unique issues facing LGBTQ youth and presents findings from HRC’s survey of 10,000 LGBTQ youth.
Ellen Kahn, Human Rights Campaign/Family Project, District of Columbia

1J — 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 issue of geographic distance involved in adoptive placements, 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.
Maris Blechner, Family Focus Adoption Services, New York

1K — Recruiting Permanent Parents for Every Youth Before They Leave Our Care (handout1, handout2, handout3, handout4, handout5)
What happens when we take the P A R E N T out of P E R M A N E N T? We are left with M N E, which stands for Mostly Not Enough. While alternatives to recruiting lifetime parents for teens—permanency resources, significant connections, mentors, and volunteers—may be good things, none will prevent homelessness when youth age out. This workshop makes the case that parents are the only permanency option for teens and offers excellent recruitment strategies to find those parents.
Pat O'Brien, independent consultant, New York

1L — Parenting the Hurt Child (handout)
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

1M — Family Redefined: A Multi-Generational Inside View of Open Adoption
This session will share perspectives on open adoption relationships as experienced by an adoptee, her adoptive family, her birth family, and her child, and his adoptive family—all of whom are connected through open adoption.
Pat Fenton, Families in Adoption, Ontario • Katherine Fenton, adoptee/birth mother, Ontario • Sue Longtin, birth mother, Ontario • Kari Koszo, adoptive mother, Ontario

1N — Understanding Medical Conditions of Children with Special Needs
Waiting children may have major or minor health problems, which may or may not be correctable. This session will introduce participants to many common special medical needs, including cleft lip and palate, congenital heart disease, limb deformities, hip dysplasia, blood diseases, and Hepatitis B and C. The presenter will review diagnosis, management, and potential long-term complications.
Dr. Elaine Schulte, Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital, Ohio

Workshop Period 2 (previously called Institutes)
Thursday, August 8
2:00 – 5:00 pm

2A — Caring for Aboriginal Children: A Cultural Preservation Curriculum
The Saskatchewan Ministry of Social Services, Governors State University, and some Elders from the province’s Five Nations developed an online digital training to enhance foster and adoptive parents’ and workers’ ability to meet the needs of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care. Come learn about the curriculum, which includes compelling film interviews with First Nations and Métis Elders, Aboriginal youth, foster parents, social workers, and others that guide caregivers to connect children to their culture.
Darlene Halyk, Ministry of Social Services, Saskatchewan • Charles Nolley, Governors State University, Saskatchewan • Mark Reyes, First Nations Child & Family Services Agency, Saskatchewan • Leona Ahenakew, Elder, Saskatchewan

2B — Assessment and Treatment of Developmental Trauma Disorder
(handout1, handout2, handout3)
Children with disorders of attachment and complex trauma are frequently misdiagnosed with a variety of mental health disorders such as ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder. An accurate assessment is essential for diagnostic purposes and for effective treatment planning. This workshop will describe developmental trauma disorder, six domains of impairment, provide an overview of how to assess children with trauma-attachment disorders, and demonstrate important assessment and treatment principals, and implications for parenting.
Dr. Arthur Becker-Weidman, Center For Family Development, New York

2C — Beyond PRIDE: Next Steps in Pre- and Post-Adoption Training
and Support
The adoption of older children, high-risk children, and sibling groups is not a simple matter, and each adoption presents its own unique complexities. In this panel, four experienced therapists will illustrate and discuss core concepts related to parenting these children and youth. Using a collaborative approach, the speakers will develop and share recommendations for advanced PRIDE training.
Mary-Jo Land, Betty J.B. Brouwer, Dr. Charlie Menendez, & Marguerite McCarron, Cold Springs Collective, Ontario

2D — The Spectrum of Family Support Provided by Parent Support Groups (handout)
Sometimes the best support an adoptive parent can receive is from another adoptive parent. Parent-to-parent support includes in-person support groups, one-on-one peer assistance by phone or e-mail, respite co-ops, transracial or cultural awareness and assistance, online help, mentoring, and other services. Come learn about the continuum of parent-to-parent support, including how to start a support group, various model programs, and even growing a group into a nonprofit agency that can provide additional services and assistance.
Diane Martin-Hushman, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Minnesota • Lori Ross, Midwest Foster Care and Adoption Association, Missouri • Janis Fry, Adoptive Families Association of British Columbia • Nicole Nel, Families with Children from South Africa, Ontario

2E — Changing the Lens on (Dis)Ability
Before you change what you do, the speakers will inspire you to change the way you think about independence, exceptionalities, behaviour, and inclusion. They provide a thought-provoking new perspective that challenges common perceptions and practices. Their trailblazing presentation on evidence-based practice will introduce you to a positive, respectful, and productive view of differences. This innovative paradigm has allowed the speakers to leverage strengths and unlock hidden potential in many children, including their own.
Liz LeBrun & Charryl Zuccala, Independent First Educational Solutions, Ontario

2F — Using Child Rights Impact Assessments to Enhance Adoption and Child Welfare Policy and Practice
(handout1, handout2, handout3, handout4, handout5, handout6, handout7, handout8, handout9)
This institute will discuss using a child rights-based approach in the development of adoption and child welfare legislation, policy, and practice, and will introduce the Child Rights Impact Assessment (CRIA). The CRIA is an effective tool to understand how a proposed law, policy, or practice is likely to contribute to or undermine children's rights, and ultimately, the well-being of children. Participants will learn to use the CRIA tool in the context of a sample proposed adoption policy.
Marvin Bernstein, UNICEF Canada, Ontario • Pat Convery, Adoption Council of Ontario

2H — Courageous Conversations about Race and Adoption (handout)
Why does it sometimes take tragedy to remind us of the dire risks to children of color in today’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 three experienced speakers who are experts on race, adoption, and transracial family life.
Beth Hall, Pact, An Adoption Alliance, California • Dr. John Raible, University of Nebraska College of Education and Human Services • Daryle Conquering Bear, NACAC board member, Colorado

2I — Trauma-Informed Adoption Practice
As we in the child welfare field learn more about the effect of trauma on children, leaders need to ensure that their agency uses trauma-informed policies and practices. This involves agency assessment, strategic approaches to leadership, staff development, supervision, and direct family services. Participants will learn how to begin this process, what a trauma-informed adoption program can look like, and how to help transform the agency to a fully trauma-informed system.
Sue Badeau, child welfare speaker/consultant, Pennsylvania • Leslie Lieberman, Multiplying Connections, Pennsylvania • Michelle Barclay, Supreme Court of Georgia’s Committee on Justice for Children

2J — Reaching for the Rainbow: Improving Recruitment and Retention of LGBT Prospective Adopters
More than two million lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) adults in the U.S. and Canada want to adopt. Many of these very good prospective parents go unrecruited by public and private adoption agencies. This workshop focuses on creating a culturally competent agency with respect to LGBT families, enhancing recruitment and retention of these families, and addressing the unique aspects of home assessments with LGBT families.
Ellen Kahn, Human Rights Campaign/Family Project, District of Columbia • John Ireland, RaiseAChild.US, California

2K — Permanence by Design: Applying Three Tools to Achieve Youth Permanence (overview, recasting, videoproject, familybound)
The presenters will share Alberta’s experience of re-energizing workers and re-engaging older youth in the permanency process. The process, also used elsewhere in North America, uses three tools: (1) Recasting Youth, which provides a more accurate view of children that contains hope and direction; (2) The Video Project, which helps youth speak for themselves; and (3) The Family Bound Program: A Toolkit for Preparing Teens for Permanent Family Connections.
Robert Lewis, independent consultant, Massachusetts • Cheryl Fix, Adoption, Permanency and Transitional Planning, Alberta • Kashawn Little, social work student, North Carolina

2L — Hazardous Parenting: How to Fix Yourself When You Can’t Fix Your Kid (handout)
Some children have severe behavioral challenges unlikely to resolve before adulthood, if at all. This workshop is for parents raising children who aren’t responding to therapy—parents who find themselves experiencing chronic stress, feelings of helplessness, sadness, anxiety, social isolation, and depression. This workshop will help parents identify and reclaim losses, learn to manage stress, learn to strengthen relationships with family members, plan their recovery, and rediscover themselves. Parents, come focus on your own needs and reclaim your joy.
Dr. Brenda McCreight, Life Span Counseling, British Columbia

2M — The Great North American Race to Find Relatives and Kin: Making a Difference One Child at a Time (handout)
Tired of kids languishing in care while waiting for their forever families? Want to learn how to find 150+ relatives in 30 days? Need a way to improve outcomes for youth and save valuable funding? Extreme Recruitment and 30 Days to Family, programs pioneered by the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition, are used around the U.S. and by Chatham-Kent Children’s Services in Ontario. Come learn how replication can work wherever you are.
Melanie Ohmes & Gayle Flavin, Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition, Missouri • Lori Kempe, Chatham-Kent Children’s Services, Ontario

Workshop Period 3
Friday, August 9
10:30 am – 12:30 pm

3A — Engaging Our First Nation Communities as Adoptive Families
Today, there are more First Nations children in foster care than there were at the height of the residential school system. Native Child and Family Services of Toronto recognizes that children are a gift from the Creator, and that placement of First Nations children in culturally appropriate adoptive families is essential to our survival as a people. During this session, the presenter will share recruitment strategies the agency has used to engage the First Nations community and to identify adoptive families.
Marie Norton, Native Child and Family Services of Toronto, Ontario

3B — The Big Three: Attachment, Trauma, and Executive Function
(handout1)
Which is the core issue—attachment, trauma, or executive function? These are the big three, and they mimic each other and interact with each other. Do we 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 what to focus on first when more than one of these core issues is in the mix.
John Sobraske, psychotherapist, New York

3C — Laughter for the (Mental) Health of It: Laughing Through the Stresses, Tensions, and Pains of Life
(handout1, handout2)
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. In this workshop, the presenter will highlight how one can bring more laughter into both one’s home life and life in general while making the case that this is an essential ingredient in preventing parent burnout for those raising even the most difficult of children.
Pat O'Brien, independent consultant, New York

3D — Canadian Adoption Assistance
In this session, participants will learn the basics of adoption assistance for children adopted from foster care, including eligibility, benefits, and more. Participants will receive province-specific information and will come away with concrete strategies to better advocate for foster and adopted children with special needs. The session will also cover the Canadian disability tax credit, including who is eligible and how to apply.
Josh Kroll, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Minnesota • Laura Eggertson, Ottawa Adoptive Families, Ontario

3E — Creating Sexual Safety and Promoting Healing
(handout1)
This workshop will guide adoption workers to help parents address the needs of adopted children who have been sexually abused. Discover how to help adoptive parents create a healing milieu to counteract the negative impact of past trauma on a child’s psycho-social and cognitive development, and to enhance positive self-esteem. Learn how to help adoptive families become the central force in their children’s recovery.
Dr. Wayne Duehn, School of Social Work, University of Texas at Arlington (retired)

3F — Strengthening the Engagement of Families and Youth across Systems
“Nothing about me without me!” The rallying cry of the family and youth engagement movement captures the challenges and opportunities presented when agencies successfully engage youth and families in child welfare cases. This workshop, featuring a panel of youth, parents, and practitioners, will highlight specific skills and competencies related to the art of family engagement. Discussion will include building respectful and mutual relationships with families and tapping into the expertise of parents, children, youth, and workers.
Sue Badeau, child welfare speaker/consultant, Pennsylvania • panelists TBD

3G — It’s Time to Name the Big Adoption Enemy: Consumer Mentality
When we look at why adoptions fail, sometimes we don’t see things really close at hand. New families getting ready for adoption need preparation not just for the children they are adopting, but for how to handle bad advice, and how to combat the consumerism in the wider American culture. This consumer mentality is the opposite of the commitment mentality that adoptive parents need, and agencies can help prospective adopters make the necessary mind shift.
Maris Blechner, Family Focus Adoption Services, New York

3H — *Note: Session Canceled - Substitution to be Announced*
Getting FOCUSSED©: Creating an Effective Assessment Tool for Transracial Applicants

3I — Heartstrings and Pursestrings: Attracting and Keeping Private Funding for Adoption Programs
Adoption agencies are challenged to expand and diversify their revenue sources to continue to provide the critical services needed by children and families. Designed to provide a comprehensive look at resource development, this session will explore earned and contributed income sources including annual funds, major gift programs, planned giving, grant seeking, and corporate funding.
Wendy Spoerl, Adopt America Network, Ohio • Jason Zajac, Innovassion, Ohio

3J — Wendy’s Wonderful Kids: Evaluation of a National Campaign for Older Child Adoption
This workshop will present findings of a national evaluation 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, efforts to date to scale the model, and the development of a national child-focused curriculum.
Rita Soronen, Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, Ohio • Kaushala Mahesan, Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, Ontario

3K — Adoption and Other Options for Teens
This workshop provides a model for teen permanence that includes dealing with teen ambivalence toward a permanent family, locating families, making the strongest placements, and supporting the placement. The focus is on reassessing birth parents (even when parental rights have been terminated), and finding relatives and past connections. In this interactive workshop, the speakers will discuss other recruitment activities and your own most challenging cases.
Barry Chaffkin & April Dinwoodie, Fostering Change for Children, New York

3L — Who Am I? Where Have I Been? Where Am I Going?
My Life, a program using the 3-5-7 Model, provides needed support to children in foster care as they grieve losses, rebuild relationships, and develop the ability to move ahead. In Delaware, those who participate in the program are more successful whether they move to adoption, guardianship, kinship care, or independent living. Attendees will learn how My Life helps children learn about birth families and how that learning leads to the development of new or newly revitalized family relationships.
Dr. Darla Henry, Darla L. Henry and Associates, Pennsylvania • Mary Lou Edgar, A Better Chance for Our Children, Inc., Delaware

3M — My Brother, My Sister: Sibling Issues in Adoption and Foster Care
(handout1, handout2, handout3)
Sibling relations are an important but often ignored issue in adoption and foster care. Kinship placements have received much attention in recent years. At the same time we honor these birth family connections, siblings’ needs are often shuffled to the rear. We need to focus on this complex issue as we seek to meet the varying needs of the child, birth family, adoptive and foster family, and agency.
Regina Kupecky, Attachment and Bonding Center of Ohio

Workshop Period 4
Friday, August 9
2:00 – 3:30 pm

4A — Ambaah Kina Baam Saa Daah (“Let’s All Go for a Walk Together”): Exploring Native Culture for Children Adopted Outside Their Culture
In this session, participants will discuss the impact on a Native child of being adopted by a non-Native family. The presenters will use cultural principles, traditional teachings, and their own life experiences to address the effect of losing family and cultural connections. Participants will work within a circle as they learn how to raise Biinojiinh (Little Spirits) in a life-affirming way.
Shirley Gillis-Kendall & Don Ense, Native Child and Family Services of Toronto, Ontario

4B — Understanding the Unique Mental Health Needs of Infants and Toddlers (handout)
Using the latest research, this presentation will explore the short- and long-term consequences of poor infant mental health for children and focus on interventions for infants who have undergone trauma in early life. This presentation will address the benefit of early intervention when a child is at risk of genetic mental illness and demystify the fear of genetic mental illness.
Dr. Chaya Kulkarni, Infant Mental Health Promotion, Ontario

4C — Attachment-Focused Parenting: Connecting, Nurturing, and
Restoring Hope
This presentation will give an overview about attachment and explore the impact of attachment disruptions. The presenters will discuss ways to support parents as they seek to build, nurture, and repair a healthy and secure attachment for children who have had a difficult start. Building on the experience of caregivers, the session will explore how parents can create a therapeutic environment at home, extending the work of attachment therapy in the day-to-day realities of parenting.
Betty J.B. Brouwer, RE-create Outreach Art Studio at Shalem Mental Health Network, Ontario • Lisette Heleno, Children’s Aid Society of Hamilton, Ontario

4D — Great Expectations! A Mother’s Journey through Post-Adoption Depression
In this session, an adoptive mother will describe her personal experience with post-adoption depression (PAD). She will provide a detailed description of PAD, how to recognize the symptoms, and how to prepare for and cope with this potential challenge. The speaker tells her story with both candor and a sense of humour.
Valerie Petroff, adoptive mother, Ontario

4E — The Complexities of Dual Diagnosis: When FASD Meets RAD
(handout)
The number of children in adoption/foster care who have been prenatally exposed to drugs and alcohol is inordinately high. This workshop will discuss the complexities that professionals and parents face when working with children affected by FASD and RAD— children who are often misdiagnosed, under diagnosed, or never diagnosed. It requires a specific skill set, as the children do not respond to typical therapeutic modalities or to commonly used parenting techniques.
Deena McMahon, McMahon Counseling and Consultation Services, Minnesota

4F — Data-Informed Child Advocacy
Advocates in Canada and the U.S. are often confronted with a lack of data to support their efforts to reform child welfare. The best advocacy cases are made when hard data and personal stories are combined. The speakers will identify sources of data, discuss how to analyze and present data in an easy to understand way, and describe how to create a child welfare advocacy campaign.
Joe Kroll, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Minnesota • Patricia Paul-Carson, Adoption Council of Canada, Ontario

4G — Bridging the Divide: Transitioning from Infertility Treatment to Adoption
Many people turn to adoption after years of struggling with infertility. How does the experience and loss of infertility affect the adoption process and adoptive parenting? The session will address the following: making peace with Plan B, wondering why those with infertility have to prove themselves when fertile people do not, adopting whichever child can be placed as quickly as possible, continuing in fertility treatment while adopting, and going back into treatment for the next child.
Dawn Davenport, Creating a Family, North Carolina

4I — Customer Service from the Inside Out (handout1)
Responding to the needs of a diverse clientele, difficult economic times, and inflexible systems while maintaining a healthy organization can challenge even the most seasoned professional. This experiential workshop will explore customer service from the inside out, addressing issues of diversity, inclusiveness, and the acknowledgment of how we bring ourselves to the workplace. The presenter will explore strategies to enhance healthy interactions between staff, deliver attuned customer service, and facilitate teamwork.
Janice Goldwater, Adoptions Together, Maryland

4J — Keeping Children SAFE: Going In-Depth about the SAFE Home Study (handout)
The Structured Analysis Family Evaluation (SAFE) home study methodology has revolutionized how public and private child welfare agencies study and evaluate prospective adoptive, kin, and foster families. Also Hague compliant, SAFE is widely used in international adoption. During this session, the presenters will provide an overview of the SAFE process, discuss the most recent research on home studies, focus on the assessment value of the SAFE home study, and discuss how the method’s assessment and supervision promotes stable placements.
Kathleen Cleary, Consortium for Children, California

4K — Breaking Down Barriers: Dispelling the Myths of “Adoptability”
This workshop is designed to give adoption practitioners a guide to navigating some common barriers to adoption for children and youth. In addition to discussing how to address resistance from those involved in the process, the workshop will provide concrete advice and strategies on changing agency and system culture; child-centered recruitment; preparing children, caregivers, and adoptive parents; using public events for children’s benefit; challenges in the adoption process and transition; and post-adoption considerations.
Kaushala Mahesan, Ferdinand Herrera, & Wilma Burke, Children's Aid Society of Toronto, Ontario

4L — Nutrition: Nurture Health and Behavior (handout)
Food is the body’s fuel and one of the most basic ways that we nurture our children. Malnutrition, sensitivities, allergies, and food preferences can affect a child’s behavior, thinking, and emotional function. This workshop introduces research surrounding nutrition and equips parents with ways to interpret cravings and to shape child behavior using dietary choices.
Brooke Randolph, MLJ Adoptions, Inc., Indiana

4M — Knock, Knock, Who Is There?
Birth parents and adoptive parents often commit to a lifelong relationship with one another in a very short time. This workshop prepares adoptive parents and birth parents for an open adoption relationship and helps them set realistic relationship expectations of one another by examining their relationship patterns and style. Two recently created open adoption tools, All About You (for birth parents) and Open Up (for adoptive parents), will help accomplish these relationship tasks.
Jennie Painter, Adoption Resource & Counselling Services, Ontario

4N — A Perspective on the Pre-Adoption Proposal in International Adoption: An Intriguing and Complex Dialogue
As the number of children available for international adoption decreases and the wait increases, more parents are looking at the medically and emotionally complex children who are available. These include children who are older, in sibling groups, in waiting child programs, or have survived natural disasters or war. This changes many pre-adoption proposals. This session will review the common medical and social issues waiting children may have and their effects on the child’s and family’s welfare.
Dr. Cecilia Baxter, Edmonton Adoption Clinic, Alberta

Workshop Period 5
Friday, August 9
4:00 – 5:30 pm

5A — Preserving Aboriginal Culture through Customary Adoption
Lalum’utul’ Smun’eem Child and Family Services is a fully delegated First Nations Agency that provides the whole range of child welfare services. This workshop will outline how the agency works to ensure children who are adopted remain connected and culture is preserved within the family unit.
Holly Charlie & Kim Grzybowski, Lalum’utul’ Smun’eem Child and Family Services, British Columbia

5B — Using Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, Play Therapy, and Adjunct Therapies
Enhancing attachment and bonding and resolving trauma require sensitive and effective management of the interpersonal neurobiology of the parent and child (the dyad). In this session, three experienced therapists will journey through the process of assessment and differential diagnosis and will explore treatment recommendations and treatment modalities.
Dr. Sian Phillips, Mary-Jo Land, & Hannah Sun-Reid, Cold Springs Collective, Ontario

5C — Love and Loss in Adoption
(handout1, handout2, handout3, handout4, handout5)
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 relationships. The speakers will also focus on challenges in teenage years. Bring your questions, successes, and challenges.
Christina Romo, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Minnesota • Kim Stevens, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Massachusetts

5D — Making a Difference: The Value of Post-Adoption Support
As they face the challenges and celebrations unique to adoption, adoptive parents benefit from post-adoption supports such as having a connection to parent groups, financial assistance, resources, and information on parenting. This session will provide an overview of supports offered by the Children's Aid Society of Toronto and will feature a panel of parents speaking about their own experiences.
Debbie Jamieson, Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, Ontario

5E — Laughing in the Face of Danger: Dads Talk (handout)
Come to this forum for dads on the joys and challenges of parenting. Two experienced adoptive fathers will facilitate a discussion from a man’s point of view about adoption, foster care, and parenting in general. With a total of 50 years’ experience and 31 children between them, these two dads have learned not to take things too seriously—at least not all the time! Bring your questions, stories and best strategies to share. Get renewed, share successes and challenges, have a good laugh, and more. (Women are not excluded; however, the conversation is for men.)
Randy Ross, adoptive father, Missouri • Buddy Stevens, adoptive father, Massachusetts

5F — Making the Case for Adoption Support and Preservation Services
This workshop focuses on the Keeping the Promise initiative, which is designed to promote the development of post-adoption services. The speaker will share the results of recent research on adoption instability based on data from several states. In addition, the session will share educational resources developed by the Donaldson Adoption Institute for legislative advocacy and explore strategies for making the case for adoption support and preservation.
Susan Livingston Smith, Donaldson Adoption Institute, North Carolina

5G — Me, Not-Me, Mine-Not-Mine: When Adoption Is a Factor
Through case illustrations and theory, this workshop will provide illumination of the impact of parent readiness and preparation, loss history, and attachment history. Along with other factors, these can make a difference in adoptive or foster parents’ capability to make emotional and meaningful connections with a child who has been affected by trauma and attachment issues. Understanding these issues can prevent placement breakdown or disruption, promote competency in parents, and offer the child better chances for healthy growth and development.
Michael Blugerman, Children’s Resource and Consultation Centre of Ontario

5J — Matching Children with Their Forever Families: The Personal Touch
Twice each year for more than 50 years, the Adoption Resource Exchange (A.R.E.) has connected children with families. During the day, videos of waiting children are shown, and families meet with adoption practitioners to discuss children they are interested in. Come learn how the A.R.E. and similar events around the province have increased opportunities for matching families and children. The speakers will explore the benefits and challenges of presenting children in this manner.
Heather Owens, Highland Shores Children’s Aid, Ontario • Kaushala Mahesan, Children's Aid Society of Toronto, Ontario • Aleem Punja, Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies

5K — Thinking Differently about Older Child Adoptions
With information gathered from a successful program developed by child and family workers, participants will learn the importance of—and core issues in—preparing older children for adoption. Geared toward child welfare professionals, this workshop provides practical exercises and examples plus reference and resource materials to work with older children.
KarenLee Martineau & Wanda King-Poitros, Children's Aid Society of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Ontario

5L — Bounce Back & Thrive: Promoting Resilient Thinking (handout)
In life, stress, challenges, and frustrations are a reality. Research shows that people who bounce back from stressful experiences live longer, are healthier, have happier relationships, and have better school and employment success. Children develop resilience by watching adults model resilient thinking and coping strategies. Resiliency is key when dealing with unique needs during adoption. Parents (and professionals), come learn how to model resilience and understand the tools children need to bounce back.
Heidi Payne, Families with Children from South Africa, Ontario • Sarah Pedersen, Adoption Council of Canada, Ontario

5M — What Every Adoptive Parent Should Know about Search and Reunion
For more than 30 years, we have facilitated myriad reunions and reconnections between adoptees and their birth families. During this time, we have learned many things adoptive parents must consider when adult children begin the journey to discover the first chapter of their life. This workshop will explore these lessons in the spirit of fostering closer ties between adoptees and their birth and adoptive families.
Dr. Michael Grand, University of Guelph, Ontario • Monica Byrne, Parent Finders Canada, Ontario

5N — Preparing Families for the Roller Coaster Ride of International Adoption (handout)
Families must begin their international adoption journey with a realistic vision. Learn what to expect, what orphanage behaviours look like, how to attach, and what to do daily to make a child a part of the family. Understand that international adoptions do break down, that they are not always the perfect solution to growing a larger family, and that adoptive families cannot be colour blind, because race matters if you are not white, even in Canada.
Wendy Robinson, Christian Adoption Services, Alberta

Workshop Period 6
Saturday, August 10
9:00 – 10:30 am

6A — Who Owns Our Children’s Culture?
Can children of diverse cultures truly have the best of both worlds? Everywhere you look, adoption materials encourage us to adopt the culture as well as the child. Is that truly possible? If not, then what? This workshop will provide tools, resources, and support strategies to encourage the healthy development of the unique culture of adoption.
Astrid Dabbeni, Adoption Mosaic, Oregon

6B — Increasing Hope Improves Outcomes: The Need for Adoptive Parent Involvement in Child Treatments
Developmental trauma experts continue to highlight the urgent need for treatment models that include parents. The Intergenerational Trauma Treatment Model (ITTM) is the only evidenced-based, complex trauma program that resolves the impact of the parent’s own trauma history prior to being involved in treatment sessions with their child. The author of the ITTM and two certified ITTM trainers invite clinical practitioners, parents, and managers to experience how the ITTM increases the element of hope in parents in phase A of the model.
Dr. Valerie Copping, author, Ontario • Kim Geoffrey, Pathways for Children and Youth in Kingston, Ontario • Julie Brown, early childhood specialist, Ontario

6C — Deflecting Mother Blame: Skills Needed when Raising Children with Trauma Histories
Why do traumatized kids often treat mom badly? Come learn why this occurs and understand what is happening from a child’s perspective. We’ll also talk about mothers and what happens for them when deflecting this blame. The presenter will help you cultivate skills, rethink expectations, use humor,
develop resiliency, and prepare for a healthier lifelong relationship with your children.
Diane Martin-Hushman, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Minnesota

6D — The PASS Program: An Alternative Model of Therapeutic Support for Families (handout)
This presentation will give an overview of an innovative new support program for adoptive families. PASS (Parent Adoption Support Services) is an intensive, therapeutic early intervention model designed to ensure the best start for adoptive families. The speakers will present research findings that demonstrate positive outcomes for families including a decrease in problematic behavior in the child, a decrease in parent-child relationship stress, and an increase in parental empathy.
Janis Fry & Carol Alexander, Adoptive Families Association of British Columbia • Andrea Chatwin, A Child’s Song, British Columbia

6E — Inattentiveness and Hyperactivity in Foster and Adopted Children: It’s Not All ADHD (handout)
Inattentiveness, hyperactivity, and impulsivity are the most common behavioral problems in adopted and foster children. The effectiveness of any intervention greatly depends on accurate diagnosis of the underlying issue. The presenter will emphasize major causes of hyperactivity and inattentiveness in children beyond the ADHD diagnosis, including FASD, PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and others.
Dr. Alla Gordina, Global Pediatrics and Family Medicine, New Jersey

6F — Youth Speak Out Teams: Advocacy in Action
(handout1, handout2)
Learn about the development, promotion, and maintenance of adopted and foster youth public speaking teams. In addition to giving young people the skills to advocate for themselves and others, the teams are highly effective in creating a supportive community for youth, raising public awareness, guiding practice improvements, and promoting system change. NACAC’s Community Champions Network has launched a number of teams over the past two years—could yours be next?
Kim Stevens, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Massachusetts • Laura Eggertson, Ottawa Adoptive Families, Ontario

6G — The Critical Role of Foster Parents in Preparing and Transitioning Children and Youth to Adoption
Foster parents can play a key role in successfully preparing and transitioning children and youth into adoptive families. Adopting parents benefit from understanding the importance of building a relationship with the foster parent to ensure a smooth transition. This workshop will offer practical suggestions and strategies to help foster and adoptive parents engage in a partnership, and to support the child through the process.
Anne Melcombe, Karen Madeiros, & Mary Caros, Adoptive Families Association of British Columbia

6J — Redefining Home: Lessons Learned from the Two Ways Home Program
This presentation will explore lessons in concurrent permanency planning related to reunification and other permanent placements, including with relatives. Attendees will use tools developed to promote openness in adoption, legal custody, or support reunification agreements. In addition, we will examine the impact of family dynamics and culture on permanency decisions.
Renay Sanders, Synergy Force, Ohio

6K — Putting Our Best Foot Forward: Using Multiple Strategies to Find Permanent Families (handout1)
This session will feature a discussion of various approaches that can be used to urgently and flexibly find permanence for youth, including Family Finding, Adoption Chronicles, and efforts to give youth a voice and re-engage people from the youth’s past. The presenter will also discuss her agency’s success with Family Finding and other relative search and engagement techniques and how they’ve overcome barriers.
Lisa Maynard, Hillside Children’s Center, New York

6L — “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 the 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, Fostering Change for Children, New York

6M — Access, Contact, and Openness in Adoption: Deconstructing an Oxymoron
This workshop will examine the possible incongruity of access and openness in permanency plans for older children, who may have meaningful, beneficial connections with birth family. Attendees will better understand access, contact, and openness, and learn how to create workable contact orders beneficial to the child. The presenter will also address the Building Families and Supporting Youth to be Successful Act, which shifts the adoption community from access to contact orders and openness.
Michael Blugerman, Children’s Resource and Consultation Centre of Ontario

6N — Growing Up with Many Languages: Supporting the Development of Your Child’s First Language (handout)
Recent research has shown the importance of first language use. This presentation will address these research findings and answer common questions affecting bilingual and multilingual families in the context of international adoption. The presenters will cover topics such as mother-tongue language, second language learning, language development, and language preservation.
Roxane Bélanger, Dr. Heather MacDonnell, & Dr. Charles P.S. Hui, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario

Workshop Period 7
Saturday, August 10
10:45 am – 12:15 pm

7A — What My White Parents Did Not Know and Why I Turned Out OK Anyway
A transracially adopted presenter and adoption professional 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 & Barry Chaffkin, Fostering Change for Children, New York

7B — Damage Control: A Somatic Approach to Secondary Trauma
The fiscal and human cost of secondary trauma is high. Diminished productivity, high turnover, and burnout are frequent outcomes of daily exposure to trauma. Research is proving the efficacy of somatic techniques on reducing PTSD symptoms, decreasing stress, and restoring health to those affected by trauma. This session offers practical, cost-effective somatic techniques that build resiliency and promote recovery, and provide a framework for building a culture of self-care in the workplace.
Stella Atienza, Glynis Butler-Stone & Adele Gray, Sierra Forever Families, California

7C — Are You Parenting Just Like Your Parents, Even Though You Swore You Wouldn’t? (handout1)
We always look at the child’s history and how it might affect an adoption. When a child joins a family through birth, foster care, or adoption, the parent’s early relationships, successes, and unresolved childhood experiences can greatly affect the parent-child relationship. This workshop will help participants understand how their inner working model of attachment affects their parenting style. We can’t help the kids if we don’t understand ourselves!
Sandra Webb, Sandra Webb Counselling, Ontario • Annette Kussin, individual, couple, & family therapist, Ontario • Joanna Wiersma, Fifth Wind, Ontario

7D — The Importance of Respite Care: Recruiting, Training, and Using Services
Raising children with special needs can be intense, and helping foster and adoptive parents find the support they need can be a challenge. Respite care is a necessary resource for many foster and adoptive parents, but it can be hard to find. In this workshop, professionals and caregivers will learn about different models of respite care, how to create, find, and use respite services, and how to train respite providers.
Dereik Domerese, Midwest Foster Care and Adoption Association, Missouri • Diane Martin-Hushman, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Minnesota

7E — Beyond Surviving to Thriving: Stakeholders’ Views on Parenting Adopted Children with Special Needs
In this session, the presenter shares results of a new Canadian study of stakeholders’ views on parenting adopted children with special needs. The workshop highlights findings from interviews with three parent associations, five social workers, and eighteen families raising adopted children with a range of disorders, disabilities, or conditions. Content will include key findings and implications for social workers, policy makers, parents, and parent organizations.
Dr. Alice Home, University of Ottawa, Ontario

7G — “That’s Not Fair!” Adjusting to New Siblings
Are you worried about how your biological children will react to foster children in your home? Are you wondering how your new adopted child is feeling and adjusting in your home? The presenters will share their unique perspectives on growing up as a biological child and an adopted child in a family with twenty-five children (five biological, twenty adopted).
Nathan Ross & Elizabeth Ross, Midwest Foster Care and Adoption Association, Missouri

7J — Importance of Match vs. Search in Adoption Management Systems
Adoption case management information systems must enable caseworkers to quickly and efficiently find waiting children for prospective parents and vice versa. However, many systems rely upon general search tools that do not consider all of the necessary factors. A matching engine is needed instead. This workshop will present how a matching engine works, show how it keeps workers up to date on new matches, and share anecdotal evidence of how well it works.
Jeff Michaud, TP Systems, British Columbia • Noelle Burke & Belinda Fernandes, Adoption Council of Ontario

7K — Adoption from a Distance: What the Children Have Taught Us
After a number of years of intensive placements of older children and teens from far away counties into potential adoptive families, the director of a 25-year-old adoption agency offers a close look at lessons learned, successful adoption practices, and other successful decision making. She will focus on this specific population, which is truly the wave of the future.
Maris Blechner, Family Focus Adoption Services, New York

7M — Just Between Us: What Adoptees Discuss When They Are Alone
Who are my birth parents? Am I happy I was adopted? These are questions adoptees often discuss when they are alone together. In this workshop for adoptive parents, an adopted adult with more than a decade’s experience facilitating a support group for adoptees will explore how adult adoptees really feel about being adopted. Bring your questions—nothing is off the table!
Wendy Rowney, American Adoption Congress, Ontario

7N — Cultural Connections: Honoring Your Internationally Adopted Child's Story
This workshop focuses on the use of lifebooks and other therapy techniques to honor and reflect on the intersection of the internationally adopted child’s and adoptive family’s stories. The speakers will explore the child and family’s shared journey toward healthy attachments, the development and preservation of permanency, and how an adoptive family can celebrate, collaborate, and compromise to create a shared family cultural identity.
Meghan Nagle & Tara Weiss, Three Rivers Adoption Council, Pennsylvania • Matt Steiner, Wesley Spectrum Services, Pennsylvania