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2009 Conference Sessions General Sessions Thursday, August 13 — JJ Hitch, Maurice Webb, Wendy Wiegmann, and Lisa Wilson: “Brothers and Sisters in Foster Care: An Unbreakable Bond” During this panel presentation, JJ Hitch, Maurice Webb, Wendy Wiegmann, and Lisa Wilson will discuss their experiences with siblings in foster care. Some stayed together while others were painfully separated. After the panel, Utah Court of Appeals Judge William Thorne will highlight the need for policy and practice reforms to keep brothers and sisters together and connected. Friday, August 14 — Regina Kupecky: “Connections: Helping Children Make and Keep Healthy Relations” On Friday, Regina Kupecky of the Attachment and Bonding Center of Ohio will present “Connections: Helping Children Make and Keep Healthy Relations.” There is an old Girl Scout song that goes “make new friends but keep the old, one is silver the other gold.” As we move through life, we make connections to others. Some are deep (with siblings, parents and best friends), some are less so (with teachers, co-workers, neighbors), and others are casual (with the letter carrier, the lady at the deli, or the librarian). They all leave imprints on us, and we miss them when they are gone. Our children have had so many losses, and we need to honor their past connections while building new ones so that the children can become well-integrated adults. The Friday keynote is made possible by the 2009 Sara Berman Memorial Children’s Fund award—an annual award in honor of Sara Berman’s lifelong commitment to children. Sara was chief of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services’ Adoption Division from 1989 until her tragic death in early 1998. Family and friends created the Sara Berman Memorial Children’s Fund to keep her legacy alive. Saturday, August 15 — Awards Luncheon and Closing Session by James Payne: “You Make A Difference for Children” During Saturday’s luncheon, NACAC will present awards to individuals and organizations from around North America (view our list of 2009 award recipients here). The luncheon will be followed by a closing session with James Payne, director of the Indiana Department of Child Services. For 25 years as a juvenile court judge and now state director of child services, Jim Payne has met thousands of families and professionals who made real differences in the lives of children in very difficult circumstances. In this uplifting presentation, he will celebrate these successes and discuss how gifted, dedicated caregivers are able to help children grow and thrive.
NACAC will hold two pre-conference sessions from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on August 12 at the Hyatt Regency Columbus. Fees are $110 US/$130 CDN per person and are in addition to regular conference registration fees. Lunch is on your own. You can register for a pre-conference session even if you do not attend the rest of the conference. Space is limited, so register early. Check-in will begin at 8:00 a.m. on the second floor of the Hyatt, and CEUs (about .7 contact hours) can be purchased when the session ends. Adoption Competency for Mental Health Practitioners There is a need for adoption-competent mental health professionals who can see beyond diagnoses. Learn about adoption-competent models, approaches, and strategies that really work for adoptive/foster families. Diane Martin-Hushman & Kim Stevens, North American Council on Adoptable Children • Gregory Keck, Attachment and Bonding Center of Ohio • Deena McMahon, McMahon Counseling & Consultation Services Managing Challenging Behaviors: A Survival Guide for Parents and Professionals This workshop focuses on the difficult dance between poorly regulated children and their often-frustrated parents and mental health professionals. Participants will gain a new understanding of the impact of trauma and loss on children's developing brains and neurological and emotional deficits that can lead to behavioral challenges such as defiance, aggression, lying, impulsiveness, and sexualized behaviors. These behaviors have traditionally been perceived by parents and professionals as attention-seeking, willful, and manipulative, but current research suggests that traumatized children may instead lack the cognitive development and skills to handle frustration, solve problems, and deal with social situations requiring flexibility and adaptability. Participants will learn new approaches for improving cognitive skills and specific strategies for creating realistic behavioral expectations to manage children's explosive, non-compliant, and risky behaviors. Dee Paddock, Orchard Place Workshops and Institutes All-Day and Themed Sessions: For the first time this year, NACAC is proud to offer two all-day, in-depth sessions during the conference: The conference will also offer a number of sessions with special themes or features: Medical Issues - 1E, INST-6, 3I, 5F Legal Issues - 1K, 2K, 3K, 1F (approved for CLEs) Teens - INST-9, 2I, 3B, 3H, 4B, 5I, 6J, 6L
Workshop Period 1 Attachment-Focused Intervention: Cultivating Nurturing Environments — Part 1 (Part of an all-day session, continued with INST-1) This program encourages nurturing therapeutic and home environments to enhance parent-child attachment. The presenters will cover the rationale for attachment-focused interventions and provide a toolbox of techniques. Lastly, the session examines the dynamics of the adoptive family, and offers solutions to facilitate the emotional well-being of each adoptive family member. Gregory Keck, Arleta James, Paula Andree, Regina Kupecky, & Linda Orick, Attachment and Bonding Center of Ohio 1B Placement Transitions: Making the Right Moves In child welfare, children make many moves, and parents and workers worry about whether each move happens in the best possible way for the child. Foster care to adoption, foster care to reunification, residential treatment to a family—are there basic tenets that must be followed in all situations to ensure a child’s smooth transition? An experienced agency director who is also an adoptive parent looks at the reality of moves and what we can learn from our work and lives. Maris Blechner, Family Focus Adoption Services, New York 1C Negotiating a New “Normal”: Dynamics in the Adoptive Family Adoption can create new, complex issues for adoptive families. This workshop will help participants better understand, predict, and manage some of the different, but normal, issues in adoptive families such as attachments, separation and loss, identify formation, parent and sibling relationships, and family development over the life span. Dee Paddock, Orchard Place, Iowa 1D Managing Multiple Diagnoses: Strategies to Differentiate, Identify, and Intervene Effectively Parents and professionals frequently find themselves perplexed by the number of diagnoses their children have. How do we treat each one? What is primary? What about FASD/RAD? What do we do with a depressed child who is oppositional? This workshop will offer a basic understanding of how these labels are viewed, medicated, and managed from a practical perspective. Deena McMahon, McMahon Counseling and Consultation Services, Minnesota Being Prepared: Learning about the Most Common Special Needs in Adoption (This workshop is part of the Medical Issues theme) Almost all children in foster care have medical, developmental, or behavioral special needs. Yet when the call comes for placement, parents may not know if they can parent a particular child. This workshop will acquaint social workers and prospective foster and adoptive parents with special needs diagnoses that are common in children in care, and will help them optimize a child’s care. Deborah A. Borchers, M.D., Health Source of Ohio • Todd Ochs, M.D., Ravenwood Medical Group, Illinois The Hague Convention The Hague Convention is in effect, but questions remain. The presenter, who represents a Hague-accredited agency, will help make sense of this major change in international adoption law. Participants should leave understanding how the Hague affects their practices. Golda Zimmerman, American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, New York Making MEPA Work: Recruiting Where Children Live (Part of an all-day session, continued with INST-7) The Multi-Ethnic Placement Act/Inter-Ethnic Provisions (MEPA/IEP) require states to develop plans that “provide for the diligent recruitment of potential foster and adoptive families that reflect the ethnic and racial diversity of children in the state for whom foster and adoptive homes are needed.” This training will provide tools to follow the law and successfully recruit families while avoiding potentially discriminatory practices in placement. Ruth McRoy, University of Texas at Austin, California • Adam Pertman, Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, New York • Marsha Wickliffe, South Side Settlement House, Ohio • Maria Quintanilla, Latino Family Institute, California • Ernesto Loperena, New York Council on Adoptable Children 1H Dealing with Disruption This institute will explore why adoptions disrupt and the signs of a pending disruption, and will offer strategies to help the child, adoptive parent, and adoption worker grieve and move on. Brenda McCreight, consultant/trainer, British Columbia 1I Extreme Adoption: Adopting Youth Who Are 18 and Older When youth in care turn 18, our efforts to achieve permanence for them often lead to their homelessness. This workshop will stress that we should never stop looking for a parent for any youth who is still in care. Four parents and youth will share their perspectives on how necessary parents are even for youth over 18. Chester Jackson, You Gotta Believe!, New York 1J Implementing Ohio’s Newly Revised Adoption Assistance Rules The workshop will address policy issues and offer practical guidance on how to access support through Ohio’s recently revised adoption assistance rules. Timothy O’Hanlon, consultant, Ohio Indian Child Welfare Act: Compliance and Policy (This workshop part of the Legal Issues theme) Since 1978 the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) has governed how Native American children in the U.S. are cared for in the child welfare system. The speaker will share the principles of the act and will discuss how the principles can assure appropriate care for all native and aboriginal children. Many of these principles may also be applicable to best practice with non-Indian families. Judge William Thorne, Utah Court of Appeals 1L A Birth Father’s Journey Explore adoption through the eyes of the birth family and his family. We look at the continuing impact of shame and secrecy that pervaded adoption more than 20 years ago, and explore the lack of supportive services for birth fathers at placement. As we fast forward, the discussion focuses on the birth father’s current life and what an adult adoptee’s search brings to the surface. How far have we come? Sharon Holmes, Medina County Job and Family Services, Ohio • James Holmes, birth father, Ohio Institutes Attachment-Focused Intervention: Cultivating Nurturing Environments, Part 2 (Part of an all-day session, continued from 1A) INST-2 The Seven Core Issues in Adoption This institute will present the seven core issues in adoption as a framework for assessment, treatment, group process, education, and normalization of adoption. Intergenerational in scope, these core issues include loss, feelings of rejection, shame and guilt, grief, identity confusion and formation, intimacy and attachment challenges, and a need for power and control leading to mastery. Sharon Kaplan Roszia, Kinship Center, California INST-3 Help! What Can I Do to Help This Kid and What Do I Do First? Special needs children often need multiple interventions. Adoptive parents may be uncertain how to prioritize therapies and how different therapies complement each other. Parents are also often unfamiliar with therapeutic lifestyle changes they can make to help their children. This presentation will provide parents an overview of somatic and mental health interventions so that parents are better informed in making treatment decisions. Mershona Parshall, private practice, Ohio • Andrea Hauserman, adoptive parent, Ohio INST-4 Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) may affect as many as 70 to 80 percent of foster children, but children are often undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. This institute will explore the link between behaviors and brain impairment from prenatal exposure to alcohol and will provide strategies for parents and caregivers to use as they reframe behaviors, change their approach, and increase success! Kari Fletcher, Minnesota Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome • Joanne Spoth, National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Ohio INST-5 Preparing Adoptive Parents to Manage Mental Health and Developmental Challenges: Train the Trainer This workshop will focus on training professionals to better understand and support the preparation and education of adoptive parents related to mental health and developmental challenges associated with adoption. In addition to focusing on the nature of these challenges, the workshop will explore barriers to effective adoptive parent preparation, as well as strategies for overcoming these obstacles. Jeanne Howard, Center for Adoption Studies, Illinois State University • Susan Livingston Smith, Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, New York International Adoption Basics for Agencies: Medical and Developmental Information (This workshop is part of the Medical Issues theme) The institute will familiarize agency staff with basic medical and developmental information related to the internationally adopted child, including (1) medical records review, (2) travel preparation, (3) post-adoptive medical screening and treatment, (4) immunizations, and (5) assessing growth and development. This workshop will concentrate on health care in the first year after adoption, including transitional issues such as sleeping and feeding plus screening for developmental delays. Elaine Schulte, M.D., Department of Pediatrics, The Cleveland Clinic, Ohio Making MEPA Work: Recruiting Where Children Live (Part of an all-day session, continued from 1G) INST-8 Let’s Get It Right: Multisystem/Multilevel Assessments in the Home Study and Post-Adoption Services This institute will explore recent assessment approaches to adoption selection and post-adoptive service delivery through a framework that bridges systemic and behavioral interactional perspectives and techniques. The presenter will argue for the necessity of multilevel and multisystem assessment procedures that fit the family being assessed, and emphasize that judgments should be based on both what people say and how they behave. Wayne Duehn, School of Social Work, University of Texas at Arlington Square-Peg Teens in Round-Hole Families and Facilities: Let’s Stop the Insanity (This workshop is part of the Teens theme) Square-peg teens are teens who need permanent parents before they leave foster care. Round-hole families and facilities are programs that house these teens temporarily. We must stop this practice and get permanent parents for all of our teens. This workshop will provide participants with many ideas about how to find permanent parents for every teen. Pat O’Brien, You Gotta Believe!, New York INST-10 Turning an Emergency Placement into a Successful Adoption All agencies dread emergency moves, when a child can no longer stay in a pre-adoptive family. This institute looks at some of the reasons for disruption, whether there is a way to forestall a disruption, and how to help a child move into a new family that will not let go. Both agency philosophies and practical advice will be offered. Maris Blechner, Family Focus Adoption Services, New York INST-11 Legislative Advocacy 101: Making Your Voice Count Foster and adoptive parents and young people have shaped some of the most significant federal legislation in recent years, including the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act and the Adoption and Safe Families Act. First, you’ll learn how to make your voice count, receive a toolkit of Washington contacts, and get an overview of issues in the current Congress. Then, you’ll learn to be part of implementing the Fostering Connections Act at the state level—estimating how much your state will receive when it increases adoptions and places previously non-IV-E eligible children for adoption, and accessing new federal funding. Susan Badeau, Casey Family Programs, Pennsylvania • Joe Kroll, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Minnesota INST-12 What’s the Difference between Kinship Adoption and Non-Relative Adoption? Kinship adoptions can be different than adoptions of unrelated children, and workers and families need approaches specific to kinship families. The presenter will identify similarities and differences in adoption types and explore in detail how assessment, preparation, transition, and support should be handled with kin adopters. Joseph Crumbley, author/family therapist, Pennsylvania Workshop Period 2 2A Sexual Safety: A Prerequisite to Healing Workers will develop knowledge and skills 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 trauma on a child’s psychological 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, School of Social Work, University of Texas at Arlington 2B Laughter and Parenting: The Importance of Laughter Even When Nothing Seems Funny Laughing is one of the healthiest things one can do when facing the deep stresses of parenting and life in general. This workshop will highlight how one can bring more laughter into both home and work, particularly in areas that do not seem particularly funny. Pat O’Brien, You Gotta Believe!, New York 2C Adoption Subsidies: Who, What, When, Where, and Why? Parents and social workers will learn the basics of Title IV-E adoption assistance plus other supplemental services such as SSI and Medicaid available for children with special needs. Topics include eligibility, benefits, administrative hearings, taxes, and more. Please bring your specific questions. Josh Kroll, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Minnesota 2D Starting All Over Again: Developmental Stages in Adopted Older Children When an older child is placed in an adoptive home, parents may expect the child to act according to their age. Because most children in orphanages or foster care missed key development steps, however, they often need to take these steps once they are secure. Beginning with the first stage and discussing the reoccurrence of the attachment cycle, this session explores Eric Erickson’s developmental stages, identifies challenges adopted children face, and encourages parents to help their children through each stage. Claudia Fletcher, Adopt America Network, Minnesota • Kris Housley, adoptive specialist, Ohio • Bart Fletcher, pastor/adoptive father, Minnesota 2E Embracing a Love Like No Other: The Impact of Parenting Traumatized Children We often focus on traumatized children’s needs and rarely look at what happens to adoptive parents who pour their energies into parenting these children. They are often blamed and left without support. What happens when nothing works? What can professionals do? This interactive institute, based on research, will answer these questions and more. Jayne Schooler, author and trainer, Ohio • Betsy Keefer Smalley, Institute for Human Services, Ohio 2F 17 Years of Mi Pueblo Culture Camp Cleveland area adoptive parents created Mi Pueblo culture camp for children adopted from Latin America and their siblings. Attendees will hear how a culture camp can become its own community and provide an opportunity for adoptees to learn about the people and culture of their birth countries, take pride in their heritage, and meet excellent role models. Bill Gruber, Mi Pueblo, Ohio 2G Stepping Forward, Stepping Back: Courageous Conversations About Race, Identity, Family, and Community In this workshop, participants will engage in interactive activities followed by open, honest, and courageous conversations about white privilege; culture, identity, and feeling invisible; the changing picture of American families and communities; and what this means to us as families and professionals. Susan Badeau, Casey Family Programs, Pennsylvania 2H Providing Families with Access to Adoption-Competent Mental Health Professionals: A Training and Certification Approach In this workshop, the presenters will describe a training program designed to provide community mental health practitioners and therapists with the competencies to offer quality mental health services to adoptive families. Presenters will share what has been learned through the development, implementation, and evaluation of a standardized adoption-competency training program for clinicians. Debbie Riley, The Center for Adoption Support and Education, Maryland • Sarah Green-blatt, Casey Family Services, Connecticut Adoption and Other Options for Teens (This workshop is part of the Teens theme) This workshop provides a model for teen permanence that addresses teen ambivalence toward a permanent family, locating families, and making the strongest placements and supporting the placement. Reassessing birth parents (even after TPR), relatives, and past connections is the focus, and other recruitment techniques will be covered. Bring your most challenging cases to this interactive discussion. Barry Chaffkin, April Dinwoodie, & Doris Laurenceau, Changing the World One Child at a Time, New York Best Practices in Conducting Homes Studies with Lesbian and Gay Adoptive Families (This workshop is part of the Research theme) This workshop will provide you with practical tools and knowledge for improving skills, increasing cultural competence, and enhancing personal comfort when conducting a home study/family assessment with prospective lesbian and gay adoptive parents. In this workshop, questions related to education, finances, and social needs will be addressed. Come learn to improve your ability to support your lesbian and gay families. Ellen Kahn, Human Rights Campaign/ Family Project, District of Columbia Federal Entitlement and Adoption (This workshop is part of the Legal Issues theme) The workshop will look at the federal educational and financial supports available to adoptive families, including Social Security, educational benefits under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, tax benefits, Family Medical Leave Act benefits, and nonrecurring subsidies. The panel—an adoption attorney, a social security practitioner, and an educational attorney—will discuss how these benefits make more viable adoptions. Susan Garner Eisenman, American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, Ohio • Jo Kaiser, attorney, Ohio • Eileen Goodin, Barkan, Neff, Handelman, Meizlish, LLP, Ohio Brothers and Sisters in Adoption: Helping Children Navigate Relationships When New Kids Join the Family (This workshop is part of the Siblings theme) Many children entering a family through adoption have experienced trauma. As a result, family time and resources shift to meet these children’s needs, which causes ripple effects that may adversely affect the family’s other children. Learn about the issues faced by these brothers and sisters as well as practical tools to help each family member create strong and lasting relationships. Arleta James, Attachment and Bonding Center of Ohio Workshop Period 3 3A Diagnostic Condundrums This session looks at the use and misuse of labels, such as bipolar and reactive attachment disorder, and the need to understand the interaction of various influences such as developmental delay, identity issues, and chemical exposure in utero. The presenter will also discuss how parents are expert advocates who can maintain a whole picture of the child and thus resist diagnostic fragmentation by specialists. John Sobraske, adoption psychotherapist, New York Surviving Adolescence: A Workshop for Parents Raising Challenging Teens (This workshop is part of the Teens theme) Children who are adopted at older ages often settle in well during late childhood, only to erupt in their teens. When combined with the typical ups and downs of adolescence, this can create havoc and conflict. This workshop will help parents understand this dynamic, and will present simple, straightforward strategies to get through these years. Brenda McCreight, consultant/trainer, British Columbia 3C Adoption Support and Preservation: Peer Support from Parents A key component of two successful post-adoption programs is providing peer support through parent liaisons. These expert adoptive parents offer support to families facing the challenges of parenting a child though adoption, help to identify and access services, and link families with community services. The presenters will discuss program development, successes and challenges faced, and lessons learned. Ginny Blade, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Minnesota • Lisa Maynard, Adoption Resource Network at Hillside Children’s Center, New York 3D The Hidden Disabilities of LD/ADHD: Early Warning Signs There are two neurobiological disorders that present overwhelmingly in foster care and adoption—learning disabilities (LD) and attention deficit disorder/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ ADHD). These disorders present unique challenges to adoptive parents, and this workshop will help parents identify signs and learn to manage children’s behavior. Laveda Moore Doxey, Georgia Center for Adoption Resources and Support 3E Relationship Building Training That Works The Our Home Family Program was designed to help foster and adoptive families support each other as they deal with the difficult task of parenting a child who was abused or neglected. The program offers families hope by teaching concrete strategies they can use to encourage growth of all family relationships. Megan Fishler, adoption & foster care specialist, Wisconsin • Colleen Ellingson, Adoption Resources of Wisconsin • Michele Malarney, Wisconsin 3F Beyond Culture Camp: Building Positive Identity in Adopted Children What do adopted children—particularly those who were born in other countries and who are of a different race or ethnicity from their parents—need to grow up with healthy identities? What do adult adoptees say works best? This workshop draws on a groundbreaking new study by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute that explores factors effective in the development of positive identity. Hollee McGinnis & Adam Pertman, Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, New York 3G LGBT Parents, Race, and Culture Many LGBT parents raise children of a different ethnic or racial origin. This session asks if LGBT parents bring unique skills and sensitivities to transracial adoption. A panel of parents will attempt to advance the conversation about family diversity in relation to transracially adopted children. Gary Sutherland, LGBT Family Coalition, Quebec • John Raible, University of Nebraska • Ellen Kahn, Human Rights Campaign/ Family Project, District of Columbia Public/Private Partnership in the Adoption of Older Youth (This workshop is part of the Teens theme) This workshop will present two public/private partnerships and explain how they improved outcomes for waiting teens. The presenters will explore the use of specialized adoption services to achieve permanency and discuss lessons learned. After hearing about techniques that promote positive outcomes, participants will begin to think creatively about how private and public agencies can partner to achieve permanency for youth. Kate Lodge, Adoption Network Cleveland, Ohio From Long-Term Care to Forever Families: Placing Medically Fragile Children (This workshop is part of the Medical Issues theme) Across the U.S. there are numerous medically fragile children who are legally free for adoption. There are also approved, experienced families willing to adopt these children. Learn who these children are and how to overcome the barriers to finding their forever family. Becky Dornoff & Nora Edgar, Adopt America Network, Michigan • Beverly Moore, Adopt America Network, Ohio 3J Permanency and Independence: Youth Are Entitled to Both Participants will learn about four permanency programs in the Indiana Department of Child Services: Special Needs Adoption Program, Assisted Guardianship Program, Youth Connections Program, and Independent Living Program. Cassandra Porter & Helen Stevenson, Indiana Department of Child Services The ICPC and Other Federal Laws Affecting Placement (This workshop is part of the Legal Issues theme) The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) has undergone several proposed revisions. Will these solve the current problems, particularly delay? Will the pending Proud Father Act resolve the hodgepodge of state putative father registries? How about recent sibling and foster care mandates? Come explore the issues and proposed resolutions with a draft of the recent ICPC legislation. Michael Voorhees & Susan Garner Eisenman, American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, Ohio • Wright Walling, Walling, Berg & Debele, Minnesota Siblings in Foster Care and Adoption (This workshop is part of the Siblings theme) In foster care and adoption, siblings may mean different things to different people, and it can be hard for children to answer, “Do you have any siblings?” This workshop will examine sibling relationships formed by birth, foster care, and adoption, including what happens when siblings are not raised together. The presenter will highlight the new book Siblings in Foster Care and Adoption: Traumatic Separations and Honored Connections. Sharon Kaplan Roszia, Kinship Center, California Workshop Period 4 4A Hurt and Loss: An Accelerated Course in Creating Safety and Healing for Children and Their Parents Families are the best resource for healing traumatized children. This workshop describes a therapeutic model for training and supporting foster and adoptive parents so they can create safety and healing in their homes. Professionals who serve these families will also receive skills and support. Sherry Anderson, Three Rivers Adoption Council, Pennsylvania • Wayne Duehn, School of Social Work, University of Texas at Arlington • Kirsti Adkins, Lutheran Service Society of Western Pennsylvania Parenting from the Trenches (This workshop is part of the Teens theme) See your kids in a whole new light! This workshop will offer a toolbox of strategies and techniques needed to parent children and teens. Topics include developing trust and attachment while helping children learn to manage their own behaviors, building self-esteem, and maintaining your sanity. The presenter will give special attention to the unique world of teens. Denise Goodman, trainer, Ohio 4C Parent Group Assembly All conference attendees are invited to join NACAC staff and board members to discuss our current activities and future projects. Diane Martin-Hushman, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Minnesota 4D How Family Violence Affects Youth Domestic or family violence has a major impact on all family members—especially children and youth. Through visual tools and real examples, you’ll learn the impact at various developmental stages and how violence affects children’s future relationships with foster and adoptive families. We will also discuss how to know if a child has been exposed to family violence, and what you can do to help them. Mary M. McGowan, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Minnesota 4E Keeping Hope Eternal When Dreams and Reality Collide Parents begin the process of adoption with many hopes and dreams. Because of their past trauma, abuse, and neglect, however, some children are unable to reciprocate in their relationships with their parents. Their behaviors cause parents to feel frustrated, disheartened, and even question their own worth. Learn how to maintain hope in all situations. Janice Goldwater & Erica Moltz, Adoptions Together, Maryland • Tenneh Kemah, Center for Adoptive Families, Maryland Opening an International Adoption: The Joys and Challenges (This workshop is part of the Legal Issues theme) Have you considered opening your child’s international adoption? Are you an adoptee or adoptive parent who wants to find international birth parents? This presentation will include an open discussion of experiences in open international adoption, and provide many resources for those interested in contacting international birth family. Karen Holt, adoptive parent, Ohio Transracial Parenting: Examining Parents’ Experiences (This workshop is part of the Research theme) The workshop will discuss the Transracial Parenting Initiative, a three-year, Ontario-based research project. It will highlight the results of survey and focus group findings from more than 100 parents who adopted transracially through domestic and international agencies. The speaker will identify parents’ need for services and present recommendations on how service providers and agencies can better serve transracial families. Susan Crawford, Halton Multicultural Council, Ontario 4H Working Together for Kids: Collaborating Successfully in Interstate Placements In the last four years, Adopt America Network has helped place more than 400 children from Texas with families in 29 states. Learn about a model that uses home study grants as a recruitment and family support tool and has achieved an average of two placements for each grant. Adoption Advocacy of South Carolina has partnered with AAN to use these grants to help families who otherwise would be unable to pursue adoption. Wendy Spoerl & Karen Hojnicki, Adopt America Network, Ohio • Joe Haynes, Adoption Advocacy, South Carolina 4I Extreme Recruitment: Best Practice for Concurrent Planning for Permanency Extreme Recruitment is an intensive 12- to 20-week concurrent planning recruitment effort for youth in foster care failed by traditional recruitment. By exploring case studies, lessons learned, cutting edge tools, and diligent searches for biological families, this workshop demonstrates how to replicate Extreme Recruitment. Melanie Scheetz, Foster and Adoptive Care Coalition, Missouri • Liz Johnson & Sheila Suderwalla, Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, Missouri 4J That’s Just Not Right! Ethical Issues in Youth Permanency Questions about what is right abound when discussion turns to youth permanency. Is adoption always the best option? Is permanency forced on young people? Is it ethical for a professional to step forward as a permanency option for a young person they know through work? We will consider these and other topics and describe a framework for considering ethical dilemmas. Maureen Heffernan, child welfare consultant, Ohio 4K Ohio's Alternative Response Journey: A View from Pilot Counties With inception of a planning phase in September 2006 and a 10-county launch in July 2008, leaders from Ohio pilot counties will discuss the changes and challenges in structure, culture, and practice as they embraced an alternative response approach to child protection. Lara LaRoche, Franklin County Children Services, Ohio • Kriste Burre, Fairfield County Department of Job and Family Services, Ohio • Brenda Bloom, Greene County Children Services, Ohio • Richard Tvaroch, Trumbull County Children Services, Ohio • Veronica Spidell, Tuscarawas County Department of Job and Family Services, Ohio 4L A Holistic Approach to Kinship Care Due to increased awareness of the benefits of placing children with relative caretakers, kinship placement is becoming a more common placement option. To help participants better understand the unique challenges in kinship care, the speakers will share their agency’s experience in this area. The presenters will explore a holistic approach to strengthening the family unit to maintain continuity when kinship placement is the best choice. Tim Gonzalez & Sam McArthur, A Second Chance, Pennsylvania Workshop Period 5 5A Fundamentals of Relational Social and Mental Health Work The climate for social work and mental health service delivery has been closely scrutinized recently, resulting in a climate of urgency and blame. In some cases, providers have shifted away from the foundational value of establishing relationships to a more numbers-driven system resulting in high turnover, cynicism, stress, and job dissatisfaction. This session for professionals will explore how incorporating family-centered and relational techniques can improve outcomes for families and children and professionals’ job satisfaction. Kim Stevens, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Massachusetts 5B Trauma and Attachment through the Family Life Span New information from the neurobiology field enhances our understanding of the impact of trauma on brain development and relationship skills. The presenters will address this impact on adoptive family development throughout parents’ and children’s lives. They will also discuss survival skills, reasonable expectations, implications for parenting, and treatment expectations. Sherry Anderson, Three Rivers Adoption Council, Pennsylvania • Carolyn Schreiber, Glade Run Lutheran Services, Pennsylvania 5C Respite Programs and Support Groups AdoptUsKids—partnered with NACAC—has created a how-to manual and is offering mini-grants and training for parent support groups and public agencies to start respite programs in their communities. Come hear how your groups can be involved. Diane Martin-Hushman, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Minnesota What Adoptive Parents Need to Succeed (This workshop is part of the Research theme) Knowing you’re succeeding as a parent is a basic need. But how can you know? Is success based on your child’s behavior? What if he can’t or won’t love you back? Travel deep into your child’s heart in this research-based, inspirational presentation. Listen to the life-changing message buried in the deepest crevice of your child’s heart. You’ll receive practical suggestions for deepening a sense of connection between you and your child. Sherrie Eldridge, Jewel Among Jewels Adoption Network, Indiana 5E W.I.S.E. UP! Empowering Children to Answer Questions about Foster Care Released in October 2008, this new program empowers foster children to handle questions specific to their living situation, frequent moves, and related topics. The original, popular W.I.S.E UP! program helped children handle comments and questions about adoption, while this new program provides comfortable ways to communicate about foster care. Debbie Riley & Valerie Kunsman, The Center for Adoption Support and Education, Maryland International Adoption: Multidisciplinary Model of Care (This workshop is part of the Medical Issues theme) This workshop will discuss medical and psychosocial concerns frequently experienced by families with internationally adopted children, and will focus on assessment and treatment of these concerns within the framework of medicine, social work, psychology, and occupational therapy. Irina Parkins & Carrie Moore, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Ohio 5G The Harambee Village: Meeting the Needs of Transracial Families We believe every child deserves a family who honors the child’s racial and cultural heritage. But how do you put belief into action with a handful of phone numbers, a church basement, and a local copy shop? Learn how Harambee Village began to serve adoptive, foster, and kinship families of African American youth. From supporting each family at its own point in the journey, to the practical difficulties of finding staff, funding, and partners, we’ll describe what’s needed to create an organization from the ground up. Deb Reisner, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Minnesota The Structured Analysis Family Evaluation: A Standardized Home Study Methodology (This workshop is part of the Research theme) The Structured Analysis Family Evaluation (SAFE) home study method operates in 14 states. SAFE represents significant progress toward a model for standardizing studies across states, an explicit federal government goal. This workshop will outline SAFE’s specific components and how it influences the approval process, and will present research findings suggesting that workers tend to prefer SAFE over conventional methods. Thomas Crea, Boston College, Massachusetts • Richard Barth, University of Maryland School of Social Work • Kathleen Cleary, Consortium for Children, California Hitting The Mark! Targeted Recruitment Strategies (This workshop is part of the Teens theme) This session will provide participants with the skills to design general recruitment campaigns that educate their communities about the need for foster and adoptive parents. In addition, special attention will be given to designing recruitment strategies that focus on teens, children with special needs, sibling groups, children of color, and other target communities. Denise Goodman, trainer, Ohio 5J Concurrent Permanency Planning: Foster to Adopt Required by the Adoption and Safe Families Act, concurrent planning helps children and youth find permanency more quickly with fewer moves. For this method of permanency to succeed, workers, administrators, and potential parents need comprehensive training, a new mindset, and tools for understanding and supporting foster-to-adopt placements. Learn about characteristics of successful families, how to prepare resource families, and how to implement concurrent planning. Mary M. McGowan, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Minnesota 5K Moving Mountains: Harnessing the Atomic Power of Adoptive Parents Ideal for support group leaders and workers hoping to engage parents as partners in efforts to improve services for kids, this session will focus on moving parent groups from support to effective state and national policy advocacy. The presenters will highlight the model developed by Midwest Foster Care and Adoption Association in the Kansas City area. Lori Ross, Midwest Foster Care & Adoption Association, Missouri 5L Beyond Non-Identifying Information In too many states, adoption records are sealed, with little or no chance of an adopted person’s accessing their personal history. By law, agencies are allowed to release only non-identifying information. However, non-identifying information can help in an adopted person’s search for birth family and for self. Learn how one agency has developed a process to provide non-identifying information and search assistance that has helped both adopted adults and birth mothers start on the road to healing. Lisa Maynard, Adoption Resource Network at Hillside Children’s Center, New York Workshop Period 6 6A Identity Paradoxes Based on his work with adoptees, the presenter believes that the question “Who am I?” has some intrinsic paradoxes that can lead to resourceful self-inquiry, strength, and creativity as well as crisis, splitting, and general befuddlement. The workshop will outline 10 key paradoxical themes including development, regression, loyalty, intimacy, and the shadow self. John Sobraske, adoption psychotherapist, New York 6B Deflecting Mother Blame: Survival Strategies for Raising Children and Youth with Trauma Histories Parents, come hear the truth about mother blame, and begin to understand why traumatized children respond negatively to mom. The presenter will help you cultivate skills for deflecting blame, rethink your expectations of your child, use humor, and learn strategies to develop resiliency, reclaim yourself, and prepare for a healthier lifelong relationship with your children. Diane Martin-Hushman, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Minnesota 6C Adoption Awareness in Schools Projects based on a traditional family and those intended to explore a student’s past can be difficult and upsetting to adopted children. Children may also hear insensitive adoption questions from students and teachers. Discover how educators can make projects more inclusive for all students and create an adoption-sensitive classroom. The presenter will also offer strategies to help teachers, parents, and children respond to adoption questions and comments. Participants will learn to support adopted students and advocate for adoption awareness in the classroom while protecting children’s privacy. Christine Mitchell, author, California 6D If Everybody Else Jumped Off a Bridge: Parenting the Child with Poor Impulse Control and Conscience Development Parenting children, especially adolescents, who have poor conscience development and impulse control is challenging and exhausting. This workshop will look at some of the causes of the lack of conscience development and impulse control, and will explore techniques parents can use to help their child work toward mastering his behavior. The session will also cover how workers can support these families. Virginia Sturgeon, Foster & Adoptive Families of Fayette County, Kentucky 6E Bigger Than/Smaller Than: A Different Look at Parent-Child Relationships in Adoption Which family will make it in adoption? Which will give up? Is there any way to look at a group of approved families and know which ones will succeed? A 22-year-old, mission-driven agency that successfully places older children and teens offers a new way to look at adoptive family dynamics and understand what makes a good parent. Maris Blechner, Family Focus Adoption Services, New York 6F Ethics in International Adoption What are the ethical issues in international adoption? Are adoptive parents providing homes for children in need or perpetuating a cycle of child abandonment? What issues should a prospective adoptive parent consider when choosing a program and an adoption agency? Karen Holt, adoptive parent, Ohio 6G What My White Parents Did Not Know...and Why I Am OK Transracially adopted co-presenters offer firsthand experiences and practical ideas to address inevitable race and diversity challenges. The workshop covers dating, dealing with racial jokes, and other everyday issues that transracial adoptees face. Barry Chaffkin, April Dinwoodie, & Doris Laurenceau, Changing the World One Child at a Time, New York 6H Mining for Knowledge with Child Welfare Information Gateway Whether you are a prospective adopter, longtime parent, administrator, or otherwise connected to adoption, this interactive session will provide tools for quickly finding information on all aspects of adoption and child welfare through Child Welfare Information Gateway. Learn tips for searching our more than 60,000 documents, lessons learned from Children’s Bureau discretionary grants, resources for youth, and best practice research. Phyllis Charles, Child Welfare Information Gateway, District of Columbia 6I How Videoconferencing Helped Georgia’s Waiting Children Find Families Since 1999, Georgia has successfully used videoconferences to match almost 200 children (mostly over age 10) with adoptive families. Videoconferencing is a unique and progressive tool to match children and families. Learn about how this effort has been a model of sticking with an idea, using ongoing assessments, allowing ideas to evolve, and saving time and money. Lisa Lumpe & Jill Frost, Lumpe and Frost, Ohio Engaging Youth in Permanency Conversations (This workshop is part of the Teens theme) Outcomes for youth aging out of foster care without a family are dismal, and many jurisdictions are embracing permanency planning for adolescents. But how can we engage teenagers in this risky endeavor? Learn the language of permanency from a teen’s perspective, see why many current approaches are destined to fail, and gain strategies for partnering with youth to find them a permanent family. Kim Stevens, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Massachusetts 6K Crafting the Personal: How to Tell Adoption Stories with Flare and Purpose Come learn from two award-winning journalists the secrets to telling adoption stories that get heard by politicians, teachers, administrators, and the media. This hands-on session will feature writing samples, real life examples, and tried and true tips. Bring your own projects and ideas and together we’ll make them sing. Paula Schuck, London Coalition of Adoptive Families, Ontario • Laura Eggertson, Ottawa Adoptive Families, Ontario B–SAFE: Birth, Sibling, Adoptive, Foster, and Evolving Relationships (This workshop is part of the Teens theme) This workshop will explore how to help youth identify important adults in their life, consider ways to maintain family ties, and search for permanent connections. We will discuss the range of contact that a youth might have with birth family, reasons many young adults seek their family of origin, and how to maximize the healthiness of these connections. Role plays will teach teens and adults how to engage in a conversation, put youth in charge of the process, and support their chosen connections. Ruth Ann Jarrett, Children and Families of Iowa |
North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC)
970 Raymond Avenue, Suite 106
St. Paul, MN 55114
phone: 651-644-3036
fax: 651-644-9848
e-mail: info@nacac.org
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